A Twist in Fate
by DragonScouter
Summary: When Paul detects a weakness in the time-space continuum, all havoc breaks loose as Pandimala and a select few are sent on a journey to a place that Pandimala knows all too well. What will happen in this dimension that inspired her to like the Decepticons more than the Autobots? And how will the others react to it? Spin off to The Power of One. TFP TFA. Rated because I'm paranoid.
1. Old Enemies and New Portals

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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**Pandimala: This isn't what I think it is, is it?**

**Authoress: Maybe. *smiles***

**Pandimala: *smiles broadly* It is! I am so excited.**

**Paul: So am I but can you tone it down Pandimala.**

**Pandimala: *shakes helm* Nope. This is the spin off to Power of One! *dances***

**Knockout: *smiles* That's my femme for you.**

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Ch. 1: Old Enemies and New Portals

I smiled as I walked down the street of Polyhex. It had been two stellar cycles since I had come back from the Well and I couldn't have been happier if I had tried. Currently, I was walking to the bridge station. I had a meeting in Iacon with Optimus, Soundwave, Paul, Knockout and Ultra Magnus about something one of the scanners picked up. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew that this was not going to be good. Paul, up until twenty clicks ago, had been stationed out on Nebulos. But, he had sensed something was wrong and checked the scanners.

"Hey Pandimala!"

I turned at the sound of Raf's voice and smiled. The young human, who was now at least six foot two and had just completed his freshman year of college, smiled as he ran up to me. Placing a servo down, I waited for him to climb on before continuing to walk. "I thought you were hanging out with Penelope, Miko, and Side Burn?"

He nodded his head and said, "I was, but then they got a look in their eyes that can only mean trouble and so I got out of there."

Great, Side Burn was up to something. As long as he didn't mess with Knockout again, I was happy. I still remembered the last time that I caught him messing with my bondmate like it was the other solar cycle.

Flashback

_I was walking toward Slapjack's bar to meet up with Knockout. It had been about fourteen solar cycles since I had come back from the Well and I had been swamped with introductions and questions. I had finally found time to sneak away and meet up with Knockout at this bar to just reminisce. While never being to Slapjack's or even hearing about it, until Knockout told me, I was quite excited to see something new._

_Turning the corner that led to Slapjack's, I smiled and couldn't wait to see Knockout. Well, that was, until I heard something._

"_Come on K.O., just one picture?" I heard the annoying voice of Side Burn ask._

"_No! Now, go away. You're creeping me out." Knockout growled, obviously annoyed with Side Burn._

_Honestly, I didn't mind if he asked. My bondmate was just that good looking that bots wanted a picture of him. But, Side Burn had best be careful. The previous time I had caught him asking Knockout, which was the fourth time, I had warned him that if he said anything about Knockout being a,_

"_Please Knockout, you're the only cute little red sports car I know!" Side Burn pleaded._

_...That cut it. Growling, I stalked forward, wings upraised protectively and my optics locked on Side Burn. "SIDE BURN!"_

_I could feel Knockout's amusement through our bond as I stomped forward and I smirked slightly at that. But, that smirk disappeared as I stalked closer to Side Burn._

_On his part, Side Burn let out a nervous chuckle before saying, "Oh...Pandimala, I didn't see you there."_

_Reaching behind my back and taking out the Moonfyre scythe, I powered it up before saying, "I know you didn't."_

_If I had to say one thing positive about Side Burn, it was that he knew how to run when I was not going to be deterred by talking. "Pandimala I didn't mean to say it!" Side Burn yelled as he sprinted down the road._

_Growling and chasing after him, I said, "When I am through with you Side Burn, Paul won't even recognize you!" I then put on a burst of speed. I was going to get the fragger no matter what. _

"_Pandimala I'm sorry I didn't meant to say that!" Side Burn yelped as he took a turn._

_I followed right behind him with a snarl ripping through my lips. "Side Burn I have warned you four times not to call Knockout that anymore. He is **mine** and you're annoying him in my presence is going to end!" Then, when I was in range, I lunged forward and tackled him._

End of Flashback

Side Burn had not messed with Knockout since. "Well, as long as Side Burn keeps his distance from Knockout, I'll be okay." I stated to Raf as we headed toward Iacon. This meeting with the others had me worried. We hadn't heard so much as a peep from Starscream and his 'merry' band of followers since I had made my grand entrance after my time in the Well. Now, with this news that something may be up, I feared that they may be coming back.

Once the two of us made it to the bridge station, I hopped into the bridge for Iacon and walked through. Once we were on the other side, my nervousness rose. Even though there hadn't been too many bots come here since I had come back from the Well, there were at least enough so the streets of Iacon had a few bots on them. Now though, they were deserted.

"What's going on? There's no one here." Raf asked me, nervousness heavy in his voice.

Glancing around again, I said, "Whatever news this is must be pretty big and everyone must be inside waiting for the official report. Of course, they aren't going to get it until I figure out what the frag is going on."

As I walked forward though, I felt worry creep up and I feared more and more that it might be Starscream and his followers causing trouble. We had no idea what his numbers were like since his attack on me and, unfortunately, I was pretty sure that they had only grown since that attack. I had no prior cause to look back on as a plausible proof for this but I had a feeling, deep in my spark, that my troubles with Starscream had only just begun.

Once I arrived at the front of Fortress Maximus, I let out a sigh before walking up the stairs. When I got inside, I was bombarded with the noise of panic in the air as bots ran left and right trying to do something or another. I was taken by so much surprise that I was frozen to the spot, not knowing what to do for the longest time.

But, that freeze was soon fixed when I saw Vox out of the corner of my left optic and he was about to run in front of me. "Vox, what the frag is going on?" Ever since I had met the mech when he, Knockout, and Paul 'found' me when I came back from the well, the two of us had created a close friendship and he was my go-to bot for information and surveillance...when Soundwave was unavailable of course.

The dark blue and dark gold mech stopped in front of me and said, "It has to do with whatever Paul found out. Actually, the others sent me to find you so they could get this out there as quickly as possible." He then motioned for me to follow him.

As we made our way quickly down the hall, I asked, "Do you know anything about what he found out?" I hated being in the dark. Due to past experiences, I knew that being left in the dark was never a good thing...at all.

But, unfortunately, it seemed like it would continue for a little while longer because Vox shook his helm and said, "You know as much as I do. Paul refuses to say anything to anybot until you are in there. He says that you are the only one who will fully understand what is happening and he doesn't want to say anything until you get there."

While that was useful in some ways, it also left me with another question. "Then why is everyone panicking?"

Vox let out a sigh and said, "Our deity is worried about something that only he and you will fully understand at first. News travels fast. What do you think the reaction was going to be? Tea time to talk about it?"

Okay, sarcasm received. "Alright alright, sorry for asking. I just don't like being kept in the dark about things. How much longer do we have until we get to the meeting room?"

"We're there." Vox stated before he opened a door next to us and I walked through, Raf still on my shoulder and Vox behind us.

Inside, I saw that there were quite a few bots gathered. Also, including Raf, there were four humans present...counting Paul as well. Penelope was talking to Joe and Arctic Talon. Bumblebee, Optimus, Predaking,Ultra Magnus, and Soundwave were standing next to Paul. Ironhide, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Miko were near them talking about something or another. Smokescreen, Rumble, Side Burn, and Frenzy seemed to have mischievous looks on their faceplates but those were covered up quite nicely with ones of curiosity. Finally, I smiled when I saw Knockout walking up towards Vox and I.

"Wondered how long it was going to take to get your aft down here." My bondmate greeted me as he stopped in front of me.

Smiling, I gave him a quick kiss before saying, "What are you talking about dear? I'm always on time."

He let out a laugh at that and said, "Of course you are dear." Then, he turned to the others and said, "Well, our guest of honor has finally appeared so we can begin this party now."

We all then looked at Paul as he began to explain what he found.

"While I was on Nebulos, I had a strange feeling that something was wrong in the space-time continuum. That was when I decided, just to make sure, to check in with the original thirteen and the rest of myself. What they told me was somewhat troubling. Due to the changes that Pandimala and myself have made to this dimension, the lines between dimensions have weakened and they told me that one in particular is very unstable at the click. It is not too far from here, about half a solar cycle space flight. We will have to go past the planet Chaar and so I would advice us departing in a cycle and a half at most." Paul then looked at us before saying, "I'll leave you all to decide who is coming."

He then walked out. Lucky. I have to deal with who is and isn't coming and he just got to give the big announcement and leave. I had to figure out how to get out of this stuff like that. It would make my solar cycles a little better.

Ultra Magnus stepped forward once Paul left and said, "I see no reason for our traveling party to consist of anymore than this group here. We do not want to take too many of us on this excursion because of our need to keep Cybertron safe. So, including Paul, those gathered here would make the perfect investigating group."

The others in the group nodded in agreement, though I could feel Knockout's upset feelings about having to go with Side Burn so I sent him a quick feeling of support, and he smiled at that before I decided to make things more complicated.

"Everyone," I started, causing everyone to glance at me.

Optimus then stepped forward. "Yes Pandimala?"

Knowing what sort of an uproar my next statement was going to cause, I smiled a smile that caused Knockout to frown. Even though we had only been bonded a few years, he knew me well enough from the get go to know what this look was about and, if Paul was in the room right now, he would know exactly what I had planned.

"_I do too and I do **not** like the idea of having him join our team."_Plena Teo huffed from the recesses of my processor.

"_And that's why I didn't ask you."_ I responded to him.

Of course, during that little talk, Knockout finally asked, "Pandimala, I know that look. What do you want?"

Allowing my grin to grow wider, I said, "Not much my dear." I then turned to the others and said, "But," The all groaned when I said that. It was like they knew what I was going to ask before I asked it. "_But_, I do believe that we should have one bot that is not here join us on our investigation."

"Who?" They all asked me with looks of uncertainty and wariness.

Jumping a little at having been addressed by everyone, I said, "Well, I think that,"

**Five Seconds Later**

"No! I absolutely refuse to go and get _him_ to come on this investigation with us!" Ultra Magnus yelled at me after I had revealed who I wanted to come with. Of course, everyone was looking at me with looks of shock at who I said. Guess they didn't think we would need him.

Side Burn, who was always walking a thin line with me, walked forward and said, "Are you out of your fragging processor? He's, like, Unicron incarnate and there is no way that he would help us in doing this. You have to have something rusted in that processor of yours." He then turned to Knockout. "Hey, when was the last time you gave her a mental exam?"

Both Knockout and I growled at that before he said, "Actually, I think it makes complete sense to have him along. He would be the perfect bot to add to our party." Of course, over our bond, I got a completely different message. **"Are you insane Pandimala? He tried to kill you! Twice! And now, you want to bring him along like it is a family vacation?"**

"**Tone it down a bit dear. You're yelling in here is just as loud to me as if you were yelling out loud."** I muttered to him over our bond before I stood up and said, "I know that many of you do not see the logic in my choice but I know what I am doing and I know that we will need him." Then, without waiting for their response, I turned to the door and was about to walk out of it when I paused and said, "Oh, and if any of you have a problem with my final addition to our team, you can just stay planet side." I then walked out the door.

Once the door closed, I let out a sigh that I didn't even know I had held. That didn't go quite as well as I had hoped it would but I knew that they would all be coming, regardless if the bot that I suggested was coming or not.

"Um...Pandimala?"

I almost jumped when I heard Raf's voice next to my audio. I had completely forgotten that he was there. Also, memories at what the bot in question had threatened to do to humanity made me realize that Raf might not understand why I asked for the bot to come. But, I had to make sure. "Yes Raf?" I asked him as continued to walk.

He cleared his throat for a second before asking, "Why do you think we need him with? Aren't you worried about what he might do?"

Shaking my helm, I walked out of Fortress Maximus before saying, "We need him because he brings a great deal of firepower to our team, where we, in all actuality, only have Optimus, Ultra Magnus, and myself as real hard heavy hitters. Plus, he once took out Optimus' entire team before, as you well remember. Plus, everyone deserves a chance for redemption and he has shown that he wants to try and earn that. The only way that he can do that is if we give him the chance to do so, and I find this to be the perfect situation. I'm not worried about him precisely because he has shown so much want to redeem himself."

Raf nodded and I could tell that he was thinking about what I had said. The silence that we were in made me think about all of the humans that had become so close to us all. June and Fowler had, finally, tied the knot last year and it was quite the event. Knockout kept insisting that it was his kidnapping of them those years ago that had started the whole thing off. We all just kind of let him assume that.

Then, there was Jack. Once he had graduated, he had gone straight into training to help Agent Fowler on Earth with Cybertronian-Humanity communications. Arcee had decided to stay down there with him and help out Ratchet and Steve, who had decided to stay down there as well, keep the peace between Cybertronians and humans. Last I heard,they had started a Cybertronian-Human alliance group called NEST.

Miko, once she had graduated, had decided to come up to Cybertron and live with Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and the rest of the Wreckers that were slowly trickling in from the stars at a place called 'The Wrecking House' and, if I had to refer to it as one thing, it would be most like a Fraternity at college campuses. Needless to say that she was in her version of heaven.

Then, there was Raf. When he had graduated, he had applied to all the colleges that had to do with technology, but instead of MIT or something like that, he had decided to, instead, learn from Soundwave and others here on Cybertron. Agent Fowler and the people at Unit E had made it appear, though, that he had decided to study abroad. Technically, they weren't lying. He was just more 'abroad' then anyone would think.

"Pandimala," Raf started, snapping me out of my thoughts and paying more attention to him. "I think you're right. I mean, if you can find room to forgive him after all he did to you, then we should too. I'll help in any way I can."

Laughing at that, I smiled and said, "Thanks Raf but remember what I said about those offers to help. People will take you up on those and you might not like it." When I had first come back from the well, Raf had offered to help me get used to the land of the living again in any way that he could. I had taken him up on that a few solar cycles later...with a request to help all the twins and I prank Predaking and Ultra Magnus...together. I think Raf was hiding at Knockout's and my place for two days before we convinced him that Predaking and Ultra Magnus wouldn't kill him.

His face paled at that briefly before he shook his head and said, "I have this feeling that I am going to regret offering that...aren't I?"

I simply shrugged my shoulders and said, "It all depends on what I want to use it for." Once we arrived at the apartments that he was staying at, I let him hop from my shoulder onto my servo before I set him down and said, "Now, make sure you pack only the essentials for this trip. Changes of clothing are advisable as well as some first aid. Make sure you are at the Dragon Fyre in one cycle. You remember where it is docked, right?" The Dragon Fyre was a ship I had commissioned when I first come back from the Well but it had only just been finished a couple of days ago. This would be its maiden voyage.

He nodded but, as he walked into his place, I couldn't help but overhear what he was muttering. "I am _so_ going to regret this." I chuckled at the doomed tone he had. If I was going to use him for what I was sure I was going to use him for, then he would be repaying that offer as soon as we picked up the bot that I had said was coming with us.

Shaking my helm, I quickly made my way to mine and Knockout's house and got everything that I needed. My necessities were few and they mainly included stuff that were going to be used for my darling Knockout. Rotary buff, welder, Carnauba wax, and extra paint for him and for me some special waxes that I used for my wing care, reserve cubes of energon in case we were in a situation without them, a blank data pad in case I needed to leave a note for someone, and, of course, I couldn't leave anywhere without my travel pack of pranks.

"_You sure you got the **necessities**?" _Plena Teo asked me sarcastically from inside my helm.

Shaking my helm and walking out of the house, I made my way to the Dragon Fyre before saying to him mentally, _"They will be necessary. Just wait. You'll see that I was right."_

"_Whatever."_ Was his response to me before he went quiet. Guess he didn't realize what 'necessities' were to Knockout and I. At least I had brought extra cubes of energon. Wonder if anyone else thought of that?

The rest of my walk to the docking bay area went pretty quietly, only a few words from Plena Teo about what we were doing when we got to the location of the disturbance...and him wondering why I was asking to bring the mech that tried to kill me twice with us on this trip.

Thankfully, I was saved from answering that last part by Carl and Frost motioning me to come over to see them. Seeing no harm in doing so, I walked over and asked, "What can I do for you two? Or did you come to see me off?"

The two looked at each other before Carl said, "Both actually. While we wanted to see you off, we also wanted to ask a favor of you."

"I'm listening." I stated in response. I did not want to get dragged into something that I might regret later.

Again, the two looked at each other before Frost finally started to explain. "Well, during the last batch of us drones that were commissioned before Cybertron was restored there was an...anomaly. We weren't really sure what to do so we hid the anomaly here on Cybertron until we knew it was safe. Well, once it was peaceful, we went to where we hid the anomaly and, to our surprise, we couldn't find it. So, we have been searching the planet since."

I was starting to lose my patience at how vague Frost was being. Thankfully, Carl must have seen this and took over. "To make it short, we found our little anomaly in the early cycles of this solar cycle and we were wondering if maybe you be their guardian?"

"And you want me to bring your 'anomaly' with us on this trip?" I asked. When they nodded, I sighed and said, "Well, I had better meet them."

They both nodded and Carl then went around the corner and I watched as he knelt down and seemed to talk to someone. Whoever it was, they must be pretty young and not built to normal vehicon size protocols. Finally, after a few agonizing clicks of waiting, Carl finally walked out and motioned to whoever it was to follow.

…..I couldn't believe my optics when, behind Carl, a _femme_ youngling vehicon walked out. I had not met a single femme vehicon before now. No wonder Carl and Frost had called her an anomaly. Given her size and gender, she would be one among them and they wouldn't know how to care for one.

"Hi." The femme greeted me with a nervous wave.

Smiling a soft smile, I crouched down to her level before saying, "Hi there. My name is Pandimala."

She nodded at that rapidly and said, "I know who you are. The others couldn't stop talking about how awesome you have always treated us. You're pretty." She then put her servo to her face in a way that, to me, looked like she didn't mean to say the last part and she was embarrassed.

Letting my smile grow larger, I said, "Why thank you. That's more compliment than I ever get from them." I pointed a digit at Frost and Carl as I said that part. "Now, can you tell me what your name is? Or your serial number if these bozos haven't named you yet?"

The femme chuckled at me calling Carl and Frost bozos, though the two of them weren't as cheery about it, before she said, "No, they haven't. My serial number is 1-UCY.

I knew exactly what I was going to call her. "Then, from this solar cycle forth, you shall be known as Lucy." I then stood to my full height and noticed that Lucy was probably between Bumblebee's and Arcee's heights so she was shorter than the average vehicon. Of course, she was not the average vehicon. "Now, for the matter of bringing her with us," I then paused for dramatic effect before saying, "Ultra Magnus is going to have my helm for this but I can't say no. Come on Lucy. We have a fun trip ahead of us."

She nodded and ran up next to me and the two of us walked away from the two mechs. Before we went too far though, I turned around and said, "We'll bring you back a souvenir!" The two of us then ran toward the docking bay because we were going to be cutting our arrival time close.

Thankfully, when we arrived, I saw that the others were standing out there with the bay doors opened. Guess they were waiting for me before boarding. When Lucy and I passed, though, they all had looks of shock on their faceplates. Joe's shock looked the greatest probably because he didn't think that Lucy was going to be there.

"Pandimala, who...?" Paul started to ask as Lucy and I walked by him.

Continuing to walk toward the ship, I answered him. "This is Lucy and she is coming with us. Anybot have a problem with that," I then walked up the gangplank with Lucy while saying, "and they can stay here." The two of us then walked onto the ship and sat down. This was going to be a grand adventure. I could feel it. But, first, we had to meet up with our final team member, who was actually going to meet us there. I knew this was going to be tense.

Thankfully, the ride over to the dimensional weakness was short and the others didn't make too much fuss about Lucy. I could tell that she was slightly nervous and so was I. I had no idea if our final team member was truly trying for redemption or if it was all just a ploy. Well, that would be answered soon.

Sooner than I thought as we finally arrived at the spot and the bay to the ship opened before our final member came on board.

"The weakness in the time-space continuum has created a small hole in space and I am not sure how much longer it will stay that size." Megatron reported to me before glancing around and saying, "It seems like you have rolled the welcome mat for me Pandimala. You shouldn't have."

Of course, at his sarcastic tone, I glanced around and saw that almost everybot else was tense. They hadn't been too happy when I had suggested that Megatron be our last member. But, I wanted to help him start to become more accepted around the others before he got the dark energon completely out of his systems, though I could tell that he must have gotten a lot out since I had seen him the previous stellar cycle.

"Well, only the best." I said, telling him that I noted his sarcasm and that I was trying to get the others to come around. Hopefully, he had caught that.

"Pandimala," Megatron started, "I believe that you should come out and see this for yourself and send your findings here so the others can study them."

And now it was time for phase one of 'get Megatron accepted among the others fully' scheme. "Right, but I think you should bring someone out who knows what this is about that isn't Paul. I want Paul in here to explain it fully to the others as I send it since I will be outside with you. And since I will be bringing out Lucy, since she is my responsibility, you will have to carry them."

I then sent a _very_ pointed look to Raf and I knew the second he received it because he had a look of nervousness flash on his face before he nodded and stepped forward. "Well, since Miko can't handle a computer to save her life, I guess that means me."

The looks on _everybots_ faceplates were screaming in confusion and worry. Most notably the worry was coming from Bumblebee and Optimus. They probably remember Megatron's track record around humans...most notably Jack and my previous self as Lizzie Val, and were nervous about this.

To my surprise though, Megatron had me covered. "Don't worry Autobots, Pandimala will be right outside with us so you don't have to get your gears all out of place."

I chuckled at the mollified looks on the Autobots' faceplates as Megatron transformed and opened his cockpit for Raf. Seeing as Raf might have problems getting up without help, I picked up the human and placed him in the Decepticon leader's cockpit. Once that was shut, Megatron launched out of the ship and I grabbed Lucy before following right behind him. I had to make sure that I was out there with Megatron or the Autobots would all have spark attacks.

Once I caught up with Megatron, I transformed and could only stare in shock at the hole in the fabric of space. He was right in the fact that it was growing rapidly and, if I had learned anything from the movies, I had learned that something growing rapidly in space was not usually a good thing.

"Paul, are you getting this?" I asked him as I studied the rip some more. When I had first pulled up in front of it, it had been the size of Raf. Now, after only a few clicks, It was my size at least.

The answer from Paul was immediate. "_Yes, we are getting the information..."_ Paul then trailed off and _that_ was not a good thing.

"Paul is everything alright?" I asked him, turning my back to the hole.

"Get out of there now!" I heard Paul yell just as an explosion went off behind me and I was enveloped into a bright white light before everything went dark.

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**Pandimala: Authoress?**

**Authoress: Yes?**

**Pandimala: Do you have a thing for explosions?**

**Authoress: *smirks* Maybe. What makes you say that?**

**Knockout: *sarcastically* It couldn't be that you use them in almost every single one of your stories. That would be too obvious.**

**Authoress: *frowns* Sarcasm noted and _not_ appreciated.**

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**AN: This is the spin off! While it may seem unimportant to do this, it will help lead to the sequel to Power of One. This story takes place between the two and a very important plot point will happen here that we need to help the sequel come to fruition. Until then though, please take a moment to review! Even saying hi would be great! Well, I'm off to see the wizard! *goes to find Paul***


	2. Oh The Places We End Up

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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**Authoress: Well, this looks interesting. You all want to know the best part about explosions.**

**Pandimala: There is no good part about them.**

**Lucy: What?**

**Authoress: That everything that you expected to happen with them won't happen and everything that could not happen does happen.**

**Lucy:...*turns to Pandimala* Did you get that?**

**Pandimala: No...but I never get things when they come to Authoress.**

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Ch. 2: Oh The Places We End Up

As my systems came online, I let out a groan. I could already feel my joints sizing up with a pain they didn't know before. I hated explosions. While sometimes they were alright, like the one that turned me from Lizzie to Pandimala, I knew that they always had a catch to them and I did not want to find out what this one's catch would be. I had enough trouble now and I knew that, as soon as I onlined my optics, that I would get such a helm ache. I was ready to just keep my optics closed forever and never look at the outside world again. But, I knew that I had to. So, with caution, I onlined my optics.

"What the frag?" I asked myself as I looked around. The vegetation around me told me that I was definitely on an organic world. But, this wasn't Earth because, as I looked in the sky, I could see that there were two suns in the sky. But, those two reasons weren't the only reasons that I was confused. Something felt off about this and I wasn't sure exactly what that was. Maybe it was the composition of the air?

As I took a scan of the air, I heard a groan next to me and that was when I finally realized that I wasn't alone. "Ow, my helm is offlining me." Lucy groaned as she sat up. Glancing around as I waited for the results, I saw that Lucy was the only one around.

"You know, I'm here too." Plena Teo's voice echoed in my helm.

Shaking my helm, I said to him, "I know you are Plena." Then, I glanced around. "But where are we?"

My analysis of the air showed a result that I would find on Earth. But, I knew that we were not on Earth. How did I know that, well that would have to do with, "There are two suns!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.

Yeah, that. Earth didn't have two suns so I knew that we were not on my home planet. Actually, now that I looked around, something besides there being two suns was bothering me. It was the way that everything looked. Something wasn't sitting right in my processor. Maybe it was the way the plants seem to cling together to form one object?

Shaking my helm, I continued to glance around while saying, "Something doesn't feel right."

And that earned a response from Lucy, "Well, I'm not sure about feeling right, but you don't look right at all."

Surprise swept through my systems when she said that. What was she talking about? "What do you mean Lucy?" I asked the femme.

In response, she pointed at me while saying, "You don't look as sharp as you usually do. Actually, you look kinda pointy smooth." She shook her head when she said that, "Does that make sense?"

At first, I was about to tell her that it didn't make any sense and that she would have to repeat what she just said. But, now that she said it, something looked different about her too. Something that I hadn't seen in years. It couldn't be though. There was no way that this happened to me again?

...Could it?

With that question in my helm, I looked for a source of water and found that we were in a clearing with a pond in the middle. Quickly, I stood up and ran over.

"Pandimala, what are you doing?" Plena Teo asked as I knelt down by the edge of the water.

My optics widened when I looked at my reflection. From it, I knew exactly where we were and this was not what I was expecting out of today. "Oh frag." I muttered to myself in shock. Why was I so unlucky and yet, at the same time, extremely lucky to be here?

When I felt something shake my right arm, I glanced to the side and saw that Lucy was looking at me with a questioning look. "What is it Pandimala? Do you know where we are?"

Slowly the two of us stood and, once we were both standing, I hesitantly nodded. "I'm not sure what planet we are on, or even what galaxy we are in. But, I do know one thing. We are not in our dimension anymore. We are in a dimension that, where I am originally from, we call the Animated Universe."

Silence filled the area for a moment before Plena Teo spoke through me for the first time since our arrival here. "_Wait, we are in the Animated Universe? How could that have happened?"_

Shaking my helm, I said, "We were by a weakness between the dimensions. My presence there, as well as Paul's must have triggered an event that swallowed us all into this dimension." Hearing a call in the distance, I motioned north before saying, "Come on. We had better find some sentient being who can tell us which galaxy we are in and how close we are to Earth. I have a feeling that a few of us ended up there."

Lucy and I then walked forward. As we walked, she asked, "How do you know some of us ended up on Earth?"

I smiled at that. Really, there was no way I could ever be one hundred percent sure about that. But, I did have some history to back me up. "Well, I used to hear this saying back in the dimension I lived in. It was always about the movies we saw, and more specifically when anything alien ever popped up in one."

"What was the saying?" Lucy asked.

Smiling, I said, "This is not an exact quote." I then cleared my vocals before reciting the quote. "Everything from space falls to Earth eventually, just give it time."

The look on Lucy's faceplate looked like she would need proof before she believed the long held tradition of Earth. Yes, I knew that it seemed very unlikely given how much of a backwater planet Earth is, but look, they had ended up on Earth. That should be some credibility.

"That aside," Lucy started, "I think we should figure out what we are going to do about contacting the others. I've been trying to get in touch with Joe but I don't think he is in range."

I felt my optics widen in shock at that. Our comm links could usually reach across an entire planet and, since Lucy couldn't reach Joe, that meant that he was not on the planet. "Then let's try someone else. There has to be someone else on this planet besides the three of us."

Lucy nodded and so, as we walked, we kept trying to reach the different members of the team. But, no matter who we tried, we received the same answer; static. Great. Just great. It was just Lucy, Plena Teo, and myself on this planet and I had no idea where the frag we were! Maybe I could find somewhere to hide?

Once we broke through the tree line, I saw that we were on the edge of a field and, from the size of the houses in the distance, this was a place where Cybertronians lived. Perfect. Now we just had to find somebot who could tell us where the frag we were and what was the fastest way to Earth. But, when Lucy and I walked toward the houses, I was surprised that I couldn't see anyone outside. Was there some sort of curfew on this planet? I didn't like the quiet. When things were quiet, they were usually followed with something not very nice.

"You two femmes are out late."

I jumped at the sound of a voice behind me and I barely kept myself from taking out one of my broad swords in reaction. If I would have done that, then that would give whoever this was every right to attack me. For now, I just had to see what their numbers were and what they wanted. "Is there any reason that we shouldn't be? I don't remember hearing about a curfew." I was hoping to bluff through the curfew line to see if they were just keeping up the law or if they were thugs. But, while I wanted to see that, I made sure that Lucy was protected and slowly made my way between her and the voice that I heard.

"Can you sense how many are actually here?" I asked Plena Teo mentally as three car mechs appeared from the shadows. One was gray and blue, the second was red and purple, and the third was orange and white.

Thankfully, Plena Teo gave me good news...for a change. "There are only those three there. Be careful though Pandimala. We don't need to be starting a fight on an unknown planet unless we have to."

I nodded to Plena Teo as the gray and blue one answered me with a calculating smirk on his faceplate. "Well, not exactly sweetspark," I couldn't stop the involuntary optic-ridge twitch when he said that. Did he just call me _sweetspark_? "but it's common knowledge around here that the three of us are the law in this pathetic village and what we say goes...like you two paying a toll to walk around here in the dark."

My optics narrowed at the mech as I said, "That sounds nice for you but, since you aren't the actual law around here," I then stepped closer to the three and, as I did, I realized just how much taller I was than they were. "I am afraid that my friend and I are going to refuse to pay your toll."

It was quiet for a click and so I turned to walk away from the three. But, just as I was about to take a step, I felt a servo grip my wrist and I turned to see the orange and white one gripping my left wrist. "I don't remember us giving you an option _femme_."

I pulled at my wrist and, when the mech didn't let go, I held back my anger as I gave them one last warning. "If you don't remove your servo from my wrist and yourself from my sight, things around here are going to get _real _ugly _really_ quickly."

The red and purple mech actually _laughed_ at that before saying, "Right, like you could do anything to stop,"

Before he could even finish that sentence, I yanked my left servo towards me, dragging the orange and white bot towards me, and cranked back my right fist before slamming the orange mech in the faceplate. I smirked to myself as he was sent flying.

"us?" The red and purple mech finished his sentence, albeit a few octaves higher and very confused. He didn't have much time for anything else as I raced up to him and slammed my fist into his torso before giving him a round house kick to the side. He went down before he even realized what was happening.

The gray and blue one charged at me and I deflected his right-servo punch to my faceplate before taking my elbow and slamming it into his exposed back. He went down with a clutter but, by that time, the orange and white bot had returned to the fray. However, instead of confronting me, he went for Lucy. At first I was worried and tried to get to her, though I was blocked by the red and purple bot trying to get a cheap shot in. It took a few clicks for me to knock the bot away from me again and, once I did, I immediately turned my attention to Lucy. When I did, I stared in shock.

"And you were worried." Plena commented.

Shaking me helm, I stared as Lucy took down her opponent in a somewhat familiar way. Once the orange and white mech was running over to his pals, I walked up to Lucy. "Where did you learn to fight like that? I doubt Joe and Carl taught you that."

Lucy shook her helm and said, "Nah, once I was old enough to start training, Soundwave helped train me to fight a little. He said that I might need it," She then motioned to the group of mechs, "though I doubt they were what he had in mind when he decided to train me."

I smiled at that. Before I had thought I recognized her final move. I had seen Soundwave use it once, though I couldn't remember an exact instance. Inside, I was glad that the security chief had found time to help her train. Somehow, I would have to thank the silent mech...once I found them. Thinking about that made me think of Knockout. I had no idea what he was going though and the only thought that I could think of at that moment was his safety and I quickly sent a pulse of question over our bond. Hopefully, we weren't too far away from each other to sense our feelings.

However, my thoughts of Knockout were interrupted by a groan coming from the mechs in front of us. They seemed to be finally recovering from the first round against us. Deep down, I was hoping that these Autobots, I knew they were so because I could now see their insignias, were smarter than the average dolt and would realize that messing with the two of us would not end well for them.

"Fragging femmes, taking cheap shots at us." The gray and blue mech growled as he stood in a battle ready position. "We're Autobots and you are just,"

"Finish that sentence Vivitar and I'll have to actually report that you three have been trespassing and causing trouble on my land...again."

I jumped at the voice and turned behind me before I stared at shock. I hadn't heard anybot come up and, yet, standing there was a gray jet mech with green and yellow markings on his wings. In height, he was probably in between myself and Lucy. He had small blades attached to his wrist and a curved blade strung over his back. Also, I noticed that he had a small blaster on his hip. The final thing that I had noticed was that he had a crude silver replacement leg in place of his right leg. But, from the looks of it, he could still use it to help fly since it had thrusters on the bottom. The stern look in his silver optics told me that this seeker had trouble with these three before.

The orange and white mech snorted at that and said, "Oh, and what are you going to do about it Gearstar?"

The seeker, who I was guessing was called Gearstar, took a step forward while saying, "If you blasted punks don't get off of my property immediately, you'll find out Mercury Flame." Gearstar growled toward the the orange and white mech, who must be called Mercury Flame.

Finally, the red and purple mech stepped forward and said, "Even if you have skills, we are Autobots. If you didn't hear, we were able to capture the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, though he has since escaped. And, with the added bonus of there being three of us, you wouldn't stand a chance you fragging neutral."

"You may have a point there Blaze Winder." Gearstar mumbled, almost to himself.

And, while he might not have meant it to be an opening, I took his silence as an invitation to get a word in. "Except he wouldn't be fighting you alone and, since you have already suffered one beat down from us, I would suggest that you make like a drum and beat it." I growled, stepping forward and lowering my shoulder cannons. A hum from a blaster next to me told me that Lucy had stepped up next to me.

"Have I mentioned that you are crazy?" Plena Teo asked me as I stood at a stand off with the three who started this all.

Nodding slightly, I answered him. "A few times, but they have always turned out alright."

"Whatever you say." Plena Teo answered me before retreating into the back of my mind.

The three Autobots seemed to reconsider at our approach of the offensive and they glanced at each other before Vivitar turned to us and growled. "We'll leave for now," He then turned and pointed to me before saying, "But we will make you pay for this." Then, before I could stop them, they ran off.

I kept my faceplate neutral as the three Autobots ran off but, inside my helm, my processor was traveling at super speed. Blaze Winder had said something about the Autobots having captured Megatron before. That meant that we were past season 3 of the show. That took a lot of the pressure off of my shoulders. I had been slightly worried about messing with the time line of the show. While we would still be messing with the time line, it would be after everything that I knew took place.

"Now," I turned at Gearstar's voice as he started to address Lucy and I. "I know most bots around here but I do not know you two. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Frag, I didn't realize that we weren't on a public road before. But, now this mech was demanding answers and I knew that he deserved them. But, that didn't mean that he would believe the truth. Sometimes, the truth was hard to swallow. "You could just start with your names and bring the truth out slowly." Plena Teo stated.

Nodding, I stepped forward and said, "Hello. From how those three Autobots were talking earlier, I am going to assume your designation is Gearstar. I am a neutral called Pandimala and the femme next to me is a Decepticon named Lucy. We came here completely by accident."

Gearstar raised an optic ridge at that before saying, "It is nice to know your designations. But, what do you mean you 'came here completely by accident'? Most bots only come here if they mean to come here."

"Where is here?" Lucy asked. I internally flinched at her question. I was hoping that Gearstar would slip the name of the planet so I could break the news about us being from another dimension slowly to him.

Her question earned us a mistrusting look from Gearstar as he said, "I want to know how you two got here and I want the complete truth. I will know if I don't get it."

I didn't miss his servo moving next to his blaster and I knew that, however unbelievable it was going to sound, that I had to tell him the truth. "Well, we're not exactly from around here. We are from another dimension where the Autobot/Decepticon war has ended in peace and we all live in peace and prosperity with each other thanks to the efforts of many of us. The three of us got here by getting sucked into a weakness in the time-space continuum and we have been separated from the rest of our friends." I then paused before saying, "Oh, and the third person here who I am talking about is the really annoying ancient spirit that lives in my scythe here." I then took out the Moonfyre scythe to show him that I had a scythe. "And I think that is it."

Gearstar stared at me with wide optics for a moment and, at first, I thought that he might crash. But, instead, he burst out into laughter and said, "You know, you had me going there femme. While it is very unlikely that you came from another dimension, and that they actually exist, I might believe that. You say that the Autobot/Decepticon war is over there and I find that almost impossible but you might be able to convince me to believe that if you showed me the right evidence." He then burst out into laughter and I rolled my optics. Was this mech going to get to the point or were Lucy and I going to have to leave him here? "But," Gearstar started, finally catching his breath. "there is no way in the Pit that you have some creaky, crotchety, old spirit living in that scythe."

While I barely kept a neutral face when he said that, I was bursting out in laughter inside my helm. "He called you old, crotchety and creaky! I have to be his friend now!"

"Laugh it up Pandimala. Just remember that you are going to end up like this one solar cycle and I am going to stay this way forever." Plena Teo shot back.

My internal laughter stopped.

Shaking my helm to take away the horrible mental picture his saying that had caused my mind to create, I said, "Well, then I guess there is only one thing to do." I then took a step toward Gearstar.

"What?" He asked me, nervousness creeping into his vocals.

Smirking, I held out the scythe and said, "Grab hold of the hilt. If I can show you that there is a spirit in this scythe, then everything else that I have said must be true...correct?"

He raised an optic ridge at me before reaching for the scythe, saying, "In theory, that's right. But, I doubt,"

Silence then filled the air as Gearstar grabbed the hilt. A black flame tint came to his optics and I knew that Plena Teo was talking to the mech, probably giving him a piece of his mind about being called 'old' and 'crotchety' and, my favorite, 'creaky'.

A nudge from my side had me glancing down at Lucy as she asked, "Pandimala, how long is this going to take?"

All I could do was shrug my shoulders in response. "I'm not sure Lucy. It depends on how much Plena Teo wants to yell at Gearstar here."

She nodded and so the two of us stood there for about three more clicks before the black flame tint left Gearstar's optics and he held out the scythe. "So it is true. You three are from another dimension. And everything else you said is true as well."

Taking back the scythe, I nodded and said, "Yeah, and some other stuff I didn't want to put on you at first. Trust me, it get's weirder."

Gearstar nodded and motioned forward before saying, "Well, come on. It's not everyday that I meet bots from another dimension. You can even bring the old bot in the scythe as well." He then walked forward while saying, "You have a lot to fill me in on."

As Lucy and I followed Gearstar, I smiled. "I like him."

I received a growl from Plena Teo before he said, "You would."

Once we got to Gearstar's house, which was a decent sized farm house, we walked inside and sat around a table before Gearstar said, "Since you all came here kind of unexpectedly, you are probably wondering where you are. This planet here is called Vuelen 4 and it is an organic planet. Most Cybertronians you will meet live in small villages away from the organic cities. Very few will go to the cities in bot form."

Never heard of this place. But, that wasn't surprising since, just a few years ago, I had found out that there were many dimensions and that there was countless life in the stars. But, what he said there at the end though made me curious. I knew from my first dimension that the Cybertronians in Animated, for the most part, had a fear of organics. But, Gearstar had said something about very few of them going to the cities in bot form. That was not my main worry though. My main worry was finding Knockout and I had a feeling that he was on Earth. So, I went to ask Gearstar how far away we were from the Milky Way Galaxy.

Before I could ask my question though, Lucy jumped in with a question of her own. "What other form do bots go in? And why?"

Well, my question could wait one question. "They will go in their soliform modes. Unfortunately, soliforms aren't the best at blending in because they do not need to do the basic things that organics need to do, like sleep or eat organic food. Plus, they are impervious to pain. They go there because, while they fear organics touching their actual selves, bots do like using the unique angle that the soliform gives them to learn about organics. Plus, many of the cities host entertainment that only beings up to twelve feet tall can enter."

"That's weird," Lucy started. "our soliforms can eat organic food. It doesn't help to hide among people when you can't act like them."

A stellar cycle after I had returned from the Well, Plena Teo, Perceptor, who had recently arrived on Cybertron, Ratchet, Shockwave, Soundwave, and myself had worked on a way for us to interact with our human friends on a greater level. After about thirty explosions, and three times that many arguments and thrown wrenches, we had finally created what we thought was the perfect soliform. It could even eat organic food. Primus I was never so happy then to be able to taste fried chicken for that first successful soliform test. The soliform would actually convert the energy that the organic food would give an organic into energon and transfer it to our actual bodies so we could stay in soliform for as long as we wanted.

"Really?" Gearstar asked, a surprised look on his faceplate.

I nodded but I had to ask my question before I got interrupted. "Gearstar, how far away are we from the Milky Way galaxy?"

Gearstar raised an optic ridge at me before saying, "I would say that we are about a solar cycle trip away from the only inhabited planet in that system, Earth, when flying normally." I nodded at that. Good. That meant that, as soon as we rested up, we could get a ride to Earth and I would be that much closer to Knockout. "But you won't be able to get off-world tomorrow."

...Frag that was bad timing. "Why not?" Lucy asked while I stayed silent.

He smirked and said, "Guess you two wouldn't know. Once every seven solar cycles, all of the cities host their own sing-off competition. Usually they are purely organic teams but there are a few groups were the two are mixed. Anyways, all transport coming and leaving here are canceled until the next day."

I let out a sigh at that. Guess I would have to wait to see Knockout. But, I could wait. Thinking of that made me realize that we would have to thank Gearstar for housing us. Maybe some sort of gift I could make tomorrow morning before we went into town. "You would have us go into town." Plena Teo grumbled. "But you are right in wanting to thank Gearstar with some sort of gift. Maybe we should get to know him a little better so we will know what he would like."

Mentally, I nodded before I smiled and said, "That sounds like fun. What time does registration for this thing start?"

A surprised look came over Gearstar's faceplate before he said, "Well, I think you missed the new group registration. That had to be done about three cycles ago. But, if you can find a group to take you in, then you have until right before the competition starts tomorrow." He then stood and motioned down one of the halls before he said, "I have a spare room on the right that you two can share. If you need anything, I'll probably be up."

Lucy and I stood up before I turned to him and asked, "Why are you staying up?"

He let out a humorless laugh before he said, "Those three Autobots aren't the only ones who give me trouble at night. This planet is an Autobot planet and they don't like it that I am a neutral." He then paused and turned to Lucy before he said, "Actually, you might want to hide that insignia of yours. While there is peace between the Autobots and Decepticons in your dimension, they aren't so friendly to each other here. We were just lucky that those Vivitar and his group didn't see your insignia."

That was right. I had completely forgotten about Lucy's insignia. Since I knew, from watching this show in my dimension, that the Autobots were very harsh on any bot that had the Decepticon insignia I knew that I would have to hide Lucy's insignia temporarily just in case any Autobot came across us. But, back to what he had answered me, it gave me an idea. Actually, it reminded me of somebot else I knew and that gave me the idea.

"You know" Plena Teo started in my helm. "That's actually a pretty good idea. I'm surprised that you thought of it before I did."

I frowned at the implication that Plena Teo gave with that but didn't say anything else as I stood and said, "Well, then we will wish you a good night." Lucy and I then turned and walked a few paces before I paused and turned back to Gearstar. "Do you know if there is a forge anywhere nearby that I can use?"

A curious look crossed Gearstar's, and Lucy's, faceplates before Gearstar answered me. "I have an old one that has been on my land longer than I have owned it. Not even sure if it is operational. Why?"

Smiling, I said, "I was wondering if you would mind if I looked a little tomorrow before we go to the city?"

He shrugged his shoulders before saying, "If you want to give it a try, then I am not going to try and stop you from looking around. What time do you think you are going to be getting up to do this?"

If I didn't have Plena Teo in my helm, then this little project I was going to do tomorrow would probably take about seven cycles. But, since he was going to be with me, I would only need three to get the project done. "I'm going to get up in about five cycles if you wouldn't mind showing me on a map where it is once I do?"

Again, he shrugged before saying, "I don't have a problem with that. I'll be up all night anyways." He then motioned toward the rooms while saying, "Now, I have to go and check the monitors. Have a good recharge."

I nodded toward him and so Lucy and I went to the room. Once inside, I was surprised that the room wasn't as small as I was fearing it would be. Since Gearstar wasn't a large seeker, I hadn't thought he would have rooms for bots my height that would fit both Lucy and myself. But, the room that we were in was big enough to probably let Optimus, Megatron, and Ultra Magnus recharge far apart and comfortably. So, all in all, not bad.

As Lucy got onto one of the berths, she cast a glance at me as I got into mine. "Pandimala, why do you want to go to the forge tomorrow morning?" She then let out a small yawn.

Smiling, I laid back before saying, "Sorry Lucy, but I'm not even going to tell you. I want it to be surprise to both you and Gearstar." I then relaxed and started my recharge sequences before saying, "Now, get some recharge. Something," I then was interrupted by my own yawn before saying, "something tells me we are going to have a very eventful solar cycle tomorrow."

"Okay. Night 'Mala." I heard Lucy say to me as my optics finally started to turn off.

Relaxing, I said, "Night Lucy." Then, I was deep in recharge.

* * *

**Pandimala: Gearstar seems nice and I can't wait to give him our thank you gift.**

**Lucy: Which you haven't said what it was yet! What is it?**

**Pandimala: I'm not saying Lucy. You'll just have to wait.**

**Authoress: *chuckles* She has about as much patience as you do Pandimala.**

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**AN: And here is the next exciting chapter! It looks like Pandimala and Lucy...and Plena Teo are separated from the others. I wonder where they ended up? Oh, and the more important point...THEY ARE IN ANIMATED! That just tells you that they are going to have so much fun there! I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope you will continue to read this as I go on. Next chapter will be away from Pandimala and on Knockout (and maybe a few other points of view) and it will be very entertaining. Until then, please drop a review, even to say hi! *goes off on caffeine high* **


	3. First Time

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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**Authoress: *laughs evilly* Oh, this is going to be _juicy_!**

**Knockout: You know, you make that sound very dooming.**

**Authoress: Who says that it isn't?**

**Paul: I hate it when you do that Authoress. Because that means that we need to all go and hide and hope that we are killed quickly.**

**Authoress: *smirks***

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Ch. 3: First Time

**Megatron's 3rd P.O.V.**

The leader of the Decepticons groaned as he slowly sat up. The last thing that he remembered was going up toward the dimensional weakness with Pandimala and then Paul panicking about the rift. Then darkness.

He had only come to meet them at Pandimala's insistence. Actually, he had been quite surprised by her call. When he had last seen her, she had been holding the Allspark in her very spark chamber and he knew that Pandimala knew what she had to do. So, to hear from her after all the time that had passed had been quite a surprise. Such a surprise that he agreed to meet with this information gathering team. Before this mission was over, he wanted to talk to the femme and ask how she was back in the realm of the living.

"What happened?" A familiar voice asked. But, when Megatron onlined his optics, he could not see anybot. Was someone invisible? Or maybe there was no one there. Megatron was almost sure that he had just imagined the voice.

Well, that was until Megatron felt movement in his chest plates and remembered that, for some reason that Megatron would have to guess that Pandimala was involved, the youngest of the Autobots' human charges, named Rafael, or Raf, if he remembered correctly, had volunteered to go out with himself, Pandimala, and the young drone that Pandimala had called Lucy, to see the weakness in the dimensions up close. "It seems like there was a reaction with the dimensional weakness." Megatron answered the human before opening his chest plates and letting the human sit on his servo.

Raf glanced around for a moment before saying, "Something feels off."

The warlord glanced around at the human's statement and was in agreement with the human. Everything around them seemed almost...plushie. Then, the fact that they were by a dimensional weakness caused Megatron to remember that Pandimala herself was not from their own dimension. That meant that, more than likely, "We are in another dimension." Megatron finished his thoughts out loud.

He had figured out that Pandimala was not from their own dimension when she was fighting off Unicron on Cybertron. Since the evil deity had also been invading his body at the time, Megatron was shown glimpses of what Unicron was seeing in Pandimala's processor. One of the things that he had found was that she was from a dimension where they were just made up characters. It was strange to think of himself as a made up character for some human's entertainment but, to Pandimala, that was what they all were until Primus pulled her into his own dimension.

The human in his servo widened his eyes in shock before saying, "I remember Pandimala briefly telling us about her being from another dimension but I never thought that I would be able to see it." He then went to kneel before asking, "Do you think that we are in Pandimala's original dimension?" Raf asked.

Megatron was about to answer the human when his scanners picked up an unfamiliar energy signature approaching their position quickly. "No, because I am picking up an energy signal approaching our location that I do not know. That means that they are from here." The leader then transformed around the human before launching into the air.

"Where are you going? Don't you want to see who they are?" Raf asked him. Megatron could hear the worry in the young human's tone.

To calm the youngster down, Megatron calmed himself down and answered in a quiet tone. "If they were Autobot, then I do not want to know what their reaction would have been if I had stayed around...especially since I have you with me. They might think that I am using you as a hostage. If they were Decepticons, then we might get into a fight and I do not believe that the others would appreciate it if I put you in any danger."

Raf nodded at that and then asked, "But where are you going?"

Megatron sighed to calm himself from getting annoyed at this torrent of questions before saying, "I am going to fly around until I see one of the others from our little expedition team."

Raf nodded and, again, silence filled the area between the two of them. While Megatron felt nervous having one of the Autobots' humans with him, he was glad that he had gotten this one. From the ones that had come with them, young Rafael was the most tolerable. Paul, or Primus as he could be called, was good some of the time but didn't listen that well unless the situation was really serious. Said Primus only help him if he had gotten one of the human femmes. That Penelope, while he had not met her, had seemed to act almost like the one called Miko. If he would have gotten Miko, the leader knew that he would have probably dropped her down to the Earth below almost as soon as he had taken off.

"Are we," Raf started to ask.

Megatron _knew_ where this was going and, no matter how much he was trying to prove himself, he would not let this start up. "Finish that question and you had best learn how to fly quickly. If you think that I am kidding, try me."

They then returned to the silence that they were in before.

As they sat in silence, Megatron hoped that he could find someone else soon. While Raf was one of the more tolerable humans, he was not ready to be around them for too long yet. Plus, eventually, he knew that Raf would want someone to talk to and he did not want to be that being.

**Knockout's 3rd P.O.V.**

Knockout groaned as he slowly came out of unconsciousness. If there was one thing that he hated in existence, besides someone messing with his finish or his bondmate, it was explosions he wasn't aware of. Planned explosions were pretty, exhilarating, and fun. The one at the rift however, was none of those. Actually, as his systems came online and he came ever closer to onlining his optics.

"Hey Knockout...Knockout!"

Now he knew what Pandimala was talking about when she used to talk about how annoying Miko could be when you were trying to sleep. Just from this start, Knockout knew that this meant that the solar cycle was going to continue to go downhill. Fragging explosions.

Onlining his optics, Knockout glanced around himself and immediately felt like offlining them again.

"Don't you dare Knockout." Paul stated from next to him, like the god in human flesh knew what he was going to do. Wait...of course Primus knew what he was going to do. Fragging god.

Looking around, Knockout saw that there were no bots around so it looked like he was alone for a while. Actually, he scratched that thought as he looked down. He had to be getting some of Pandimala's bad luck, via him being her bondmate. For while he was not with any bots, he was with Paul, Penelope, and Miko. They hadn't even done anything yet and he knew that this was not going to end well at all. "Where are we?" He asked.

The sigh that Paul let out told Knockout that he was not going to like whatever the god was going to say. "I've been looking around ever since I woke up and I have also connected to the core of Cybertron here." Wait, core of Cybertron _here?_ Knockout had a feeling that meant that something big had happened. "I have found that we are no longer in our own dimension." Paul continued, gaining shocked looks from all of them. "Instead, we are in a dimension that, back in Pandimala's original dimension, they called the Animated Universe."

And Knockout's faceplate fell at that. He remembered Pandimala telling him about the Animated universe both when he was in her mind before the Darkmount incident and when she told him more after they had bonded. While Knockout was glad that this dimension existed, because it had swayed Pandimala to be a neutral who leaned toward the Decepticon instead of a neutral leaning toward the Autobots, he was really upset because the Autobots in this dimension were so single minded and, in the case of one Sentinel Prime, stupid. Plain and simple. Knockout knew that, if he met the pompous Prime, he would not be able to hold himself back from ripping the mech's helm off. Plus, since it wouldn't be the first time for the Prime, from the episode that he had watched, then the mech would be used to it.

"Wait, we dimension jumped?" Miko asked. Knockout frowned as excitement filled her voice. With his experience with Miko, he knew that tone meant that she was going to go off and possibly get herself into trouble.

But, he also had another problem. His scanners had just detected unfamiliar Autobot signals coming toward him. Add that to their being in the Animated Universe, Knockout knew that he had to get out of there quickly. But, the humans would pose a difficult time in convincing to leave. Well, the girls at least. Paul would understand pretty quick. He had to figure out which problem he could take care of before the other struck.

...Unless he took care of both problems at the same time before the problems could even happened.

The humans just happened to glance up at him as he thought that. "Knockout, what are you...WHOA!" Miko let out as Knockout transformed around the three and drove off away from the spot. "Dude! What are you doing?" Miko asked.

As he sped down the road, Knockout let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm getting us away from there. Unknown Autobot signals were closing in and I do not want to deal with them."

"Why not?" That was Penelope.

Thankfully, it seemed like Paul had caught onto what he was trying to communicate because the deity relaxed in the passenger seat before saying, "Because, in this dimension, the Autobots are very one-track minded and they will not listen to us long enough to learn that we are from another universe where the Decepticons and Autobots have made peace. So, our best option now is to go into hiding and try to figure out where exactly in the time line we are. We cannot risk disturbing anything in this dimension if it is before a certain time. But, if we are not in that time, then I am sure that everything is going to turn out alright."

As his alt mode neared the nearby city, Knockout activated his soliform and said, "It seems like we are going to be right in the middle of this mess. At least Detroit is cleaner here than it is back in our dimension." And it was. The whole city seemed to be the paradise of what their Detroit could be. Of course, if he had to have that and the annoying Autobots that were in this dimension, then his Detroit could stay the same.

"Hey Knockout, I'm hungry." Penelope sudden stated from the back seat. "Can we stop by a fast food place and grab a bite to eat?"

"No." Knockout responded quickly and decisively. He knew that fast food meant crumbs, and dropped food, and that meant a dirty interior.

The two girls in the back groaned as they passed a place called Burger Bot. "I'm hungry." Miko whined.

"Get over it." Knockout growled, driving forward a little faster.

A few minutes of silence later, Penelope let out a whine of her own. "I'm hungry Knockout!"

The red medic could feel himself flinching in anxiety at their insistence at getting something to eat. While he understood that humans got hungry quite frequently, he was not going to let them get food in his alt mode. They were going to starve before he allowed that. "No." Knockout insisted again. He was currently driving down a very empty street in Detroit, which was a small surprise to him since this was Detroit.

There were a few more moments of silence and Knockout took the risk to start to relax. Big mistake.

"KNOCKOUT I'M HUNGRY!" Both Miko and Penelope yelled.

Knockout let out a growl before saying, "FINE!" He then slammed on his brake and turned his wheel, causing his alt mode to start to spin to the side, almost like he was going at a right angle from his previous path, before he slid to a stop in a parking spot next to the curb. The building by where he stopped was a dine-in Chinese buffet that seemed to be pretty empty, so they didn't have to worry about making a scene.

As soon as he turned off his engine, Knockout smirked as the two girls, who were previously yelling at him in his back seat, scrambled out of his alt mode and gasped for air. Served them right for being so whiny.

"Knockout," Penelope started, "once my stomach catches up to me, I am so going to kill you."

Knockout allowed his soliform, Kalan Val, to step out of his alt mode and walk over to the girls. Before Kalan could respond to them, however, Paul intervened. "If you do Penelope, then I won't fork over the money for the bill...and I don't remember you grabbing your wallet for this dimension." Paul smirked at the end of that. Kalan shook his head at that. Pandimala had a _very_ large influence on the humanized deity.

But, the effect seemed to have worked as Miko and Penelope straightened up and walked over to them. "Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go get us some food!" Then the two girls sprinted to the entrance and didn't even wait for the greeter to show them to their seats. Kalan and Paul were soon to follow and they ended up in the seat right by the window.

"What would you like to drink today?" The waitress asked.

"Water." They all said at once. Though it was a bland drink, Knockout knew that it would make their meal cheaper and he wasn't sure how much money Paul actually had access to. Hopefully, it would get them through their time in this dimension.

Once the waitress left, the group went to the buffet line and grabbed their food before returning to their seats and digging into their food. Knockout got his vegetables as always, though he did sneak a couple of onion rings on his plate, and took a couple of bites before saying, "What is our plan?"

The others looked to him and Paul took a bite before saying, "Our first order of business is to contact the others. We are such a large group so I am sure that we can find out where someone is."

Made sense. "I'll try to contact," Knockout started before he suddenly felt a questioning pulse come through his bond with Pandimala.

"Knockout, what's wrong?" Penelope asked.

Glancing back at them, Knockout said, "Pandimala just sent me a questioning pulse through our bond. We only agreed to do that if we had tried to contact the other by other means and it didn't get through."

Paul nodded. "So she has to be at least one galaxy away, if not more. So, Pandimala is not going to be able to help us now, and she probably has Lucy with her so I think she will be unreachable as well. Send her a feeling that you are alright. I don't want her to get worried wherever she is at."

"What about the others?" Miko insisted. Knockout was guessing that she was missing the others. Or, maybe, she was worried about Raf. The last time that anyone had seen him, the young human had been with Megatron at the void. That probably meant that the human and the warlord were together.

The shaking of Paul's head surprised Knockout. Well, that was, until the deity spoke. "We can't risk the Cybertronians from this dimension picking up on our communication frequencies. They could use that to track us and, since the Autobots and Decepticons are still fighting here, we could put our allies in danger if we try to communicate with them in that way."

Taking a few more bites, Knockout sighed and said, "I have a feeling this means I am going to be playing taxi cab for a while."

The three humans laughed at that before Penelope said, "It won't bet that bad Knockout. We have to sleep at times, and eat, and I am not staying in a car for longer than two hours. Maybe we can go to a park when we have a moment."

Of course, Miko was all for that. "No kidding! And maybe we can meet these Autobots here! I wonder what they are like."

Knockout raised an eyebrow at her wonder until he remembered that there were only a few from their own dimension who had seen what the Animated Universe was like. The Autobots were tiny, even the two fliers that they had were tiny, and the Decepticons were tall. Even their car mechs were pretty tall. The only fun part that Knockout saw about this whole thing was that he was going to be able to tease the Autobots here even better than he could the ones in his own universe. Maybe even make them feel _very_ uncomfortable. He smirked as plans started to formulate in his helm.

"Knockout, whatever you are planning, it is a big fat no." Paul stated with a huff.

Instead of submitting to that, Knockout kept his smirk and leaned back in his seat. Paul had no idea what he was planning and he was going to make sure that the human would not learn. Before Paul could even think about questioning him, though, a loud explosion from outside caused Knockout to lose balance and his chair tipped back to sitting on four legs. "What was that?" Knockout yelled.

The waitress walked up with their bill, seemingly way to calm for what was happening, before she said, "Oh, that's probably just the Autobots fighting one of their enemies." Knockout was still surprised the the waitress sounded so calm. "Happens at least three times a week. You must be new to Detroit. You should have seen the fight a few months ago though. Destroyed half of the city."

Ah, so that explained the lack of traffic in this area. Knockout was going to ask the waitress about that but now he didn't see the need too. When the explosions seemed to draw closer, Knockout stood as Paul paid the bill and said, "Let's get out of here. I don't want to know what is going to happen but I don't want to be around here when it does."

The others nodded and gathered their things before walking outside. Of course, as soon as they did that, a group of Autobots were chasing a man dressed, in the only way that Knockout could describe, as Robin Hood. But, with the bag of jewels attached to his hip, Knockout doubted that he had the same intentions as the vigilante Pandimala taught him about. Unfortunately, Knockout knew that he would not be able to pull out of his parking spot inconspicuously and so the four of them decided to sit on the steps in front of the restaurant.

When the yellow Autobot, who Knockout was positive was this dimension's version of Bumblebee, turned the corner, tires squealing, Knockout suddenly had a very bad feeling about being here now. But, he couldn't move his alt mode. He knew that this group of Autobots were not very experienced and that they tended to do quite a bit of damage to the area where they were fighting. Made him wish that any of his Autobots, even that annoying fragger Side Burn, were here right now instead of them.

"You shall never capture me you metallic ruffians!" The strangely clad human yelled at the pursuing Autobots. Kinda funny to think of the Autobots as ruffians.

But, a black motorcycle suddenly blocking the other side of the street caused Knockout to realize that this was a trap. Kinda smart. It would be smart as long as,

"And stay down!" The Bumblebee yelled before using his stingers and firing them at the archer. The archer, however, pulled out one of his arrows and fired it toward the bolt. The arrow soon expanded into a shield and it reflected off at a ninety degree angle.

Knockout's spark froze as the stinger shot slammed into the side of his driver side door. No. His luck couldn't be that bad! It had never been that bad before! It was impossible! No! No! No! HIS FINISH!

**Paul's 3rd P.O.V.**

The deity in human flesh felt frozen to the spot. Knockout never reacted well when his finish got damaged and he had a feeling that this was not going to be an exception, no matter how much easier his life would be if it could. But, from the furious look on Knockout's enraged look, only a miracle would have it where those Autobots weren't killed on the spot, especially Bumblebee. Maybe he could convince Knockout to only rip off one or two limbs at most.

By the time the deity actually looked away from the ever maddening Knockout, he saw that only Bumblebee and the techno-organic Sari were left. Guess Prowl took Angry Archer away. Good, that meant that there would be even less casualties.

"MY CAR!"

Paul jumped in shock when that was yelled, not by Knockout, like he would have thought, but by Penelope. What was she playing at?

Bumblebee and Sari jumped at her yell and stared at her as Penelope walked over to them. The rest of them followed behind Penelope and it was then that Paul realized exactly what Penelope was doing. By confronting the Autobots before Knockout was able to, she would be able to help avoid a full out fight. Paul could already see that Knockout was calming slightly. Instead of looking like he wanted to destroy the Autobot until nothing was left, Knockout now looked like he wanted revenge that was ten times worse than what he had experienced. It was quite a calm down.

When Penelope stopped in front of the Autobot and Sari, she placed her hands on her hips and waited. "Your car is covered by that one thing..." Bumblebee started before he had to think of what he was wanting to say, "insurance! That's it. So, don't get so huffy."

"SO HUFFY?" Penelope yelled, causing the two to takes a few steps back. "Do you know how long it takes me to clean and polish and buff that thing? No amount of insurance can make up for all the long hours and long work that I spent making that thing look perfect! No, I want compensation from you all, now."

Sari and Bumblebee glanced at each other in a panicked way before Sari said, "Well, Sumdac Tower is only a few minutes drive from here, I'm sure he,"

"Did I say to have someone else give me compensation?" Penelope asked, her voice low and threatening. Paul shivered. Pandimala must have given Penelope lessons.

The panic that Bumblebee and Sari were displaying increased before Bumblebee finally asked, "What do you want then?"

And Paul felt like _he_ wanted to go and hide in the deepest part of the Pit when he saw the smirk grow on Penelope's face. It started out slow, barely a tug at her angry expression at first, but it smoothly transitioned to one of the deadliest looking smirks he had ever seen. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with a reflection of fiery revenge. Oh yeah, Paul was sure that Pandimala had given the human lessons. "Oh, nothing much." Penelope started, casually picking no existent dirt out from under her right finger nails while her left hand remained on her hip. Paul truly felt sorry for the Autobots then. He had never seen this side of Penelope and that was not good for them. "I just propose a race. Tonight. Seven o'clock. No boosters. Same place that Master Disaster held his street races." She then turned and walked back toward the three of them. But, before she reached them, Penelope turned to Bumblebee and said, "And don't be late. If you are, I am going to make you and your Autobots _very_ sorry that you messed with me." She then walked by the three of them. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

The three of them did so without hesitation and, once they were piled into Knockout's alt mode, they pulled out and drove away. The car was silent for a moment, during which time Penelope crawled to the back seat from the driver seat and allowed Kalan to take over, before Knockout finally said, "You know, maybe I should just use you when people mess with my paint job."

Miko, while it looked like she wanted to say something, seemed to be stuck in shock. Oh well. That meant some peace and quiet and Paul did not mind. "Speaking of that," Paul started, "we should get that fixed before your race tonight. I saw a luxury sports car repair station the next block over. Should be able to at least patch you up a little since Pandimala has all of your finish care equipment."

Knockout sighed at that and said, "Fine, but I won't be happy about it." He then turned down the street and headed toward the repair shop. Paul knew that, no matter how this turned out now, that everything was going to be changed drastically. He just hoped that the Autobots here would continue to be seemingly oblivious to Knockout's Decepticon energy signal. Once they discovered that, then he knew that they were going to be in major scrap.

* * *

**Paul: *backs away from Penelope* I don't get why you are so mad. It was Knockout who was scratched up, not you.**

**Penelope: I am going to grind their frames to metal dust and sprinkle it on the bullets that I use to disembowel any and all who get in my way.**

**Knockout: *smirks* I am _so_ going to be hanging out with this human more. She knows how to appreciate my finish.**

**Authoress: *shivers* More like she worships Pandimala and would protect anything and everything that is important to Pandimala, and that happens to include you and your finish. I'm going to my anti-Penelope bunker. I have a feeling that things are going to get scarier from here.**

**All OCs (except Penelope): *gulp and shiver***

* * *

**AN: And here is the next chapter of this story! I hope you all liked! Penelope can sure be scary when she wants to be. I almost feel sorry for Bumblebee. But, I don't. *laughs* I haven't decided about where I am going to set the next chapter yet. It is either going to continue with this Knockout sideline or have us go back to Pandimala and see what she is doing. Oh, and before I forget, the timing between Earth and where Pandimala is would be like if it was 10 o'clock in the morning on Earth then it would be 10 at night with Pandimala. I figured that it would help with all that they were doing and so it would make sense to have Pandimala at night while the others were at day. Well, I think that is all. I love it when you type in that review box and post it. They are so inspiring and I actually do read them and try to implement what you say. Until next we meet. TTYL! *goes off and sings about champagne and beer***


	4. Race to the Finish

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend on here. =)**

* * *

**Knockout: I am going to crush that bug!**

**Prime Bumblebee: ME? WHY?**

**Knockout: *faceplate palms* Not you Bumblebee. This dimension's Bumblebee.**

**Authoress: Oh, this is going to be _juicy_!**

* * *

Ch. 4: A Race to the Finish

**Animated Ratchet's 3rd P.O.V.**

The old medic sighed as he, Arcee, and Optimus returned to the base. The Elite Guard had arrived on Earth a couple of solar cycles ago to help with the raising Decepticon activity on the planet. Of course, since Megatron was currently here after his escape from Trypticon prison, then it made sense that the Elite Guard would come eventually. But, what was most troubling was that the number of Decepticons on this planet were growing each and every solar cycle.

Actually, he and Optimus were just returning from a crash site that was just outside of Detroit. There had been six landing sites and they had all split up into groups. The one that he was just returning from was quite small and the medic had a feeling that only one bot had landed where they had been. But, the bot had been long gone by the time that they had arrived.

"This doesn't look good Ratchet." Optimus commented as they waited for the others to get back. The Autobots on Earth had split into six groups to investigate the crash sites. The one that Ratchet, Arcee, and Optimus had gone to looked like it was probably caused by one bot landing. That was a slight relief because that meant that there was only one more bot added from their crash site. But, Ratchet was not going to let relief into his system until the other groups reported back.

Nodding, the medic said, "Yes. Even if each of the sites only has one bot who landed, that is six more Decepticons for us to face, and our force here on Earth won't stand much of a chance against them."

Arcee walked up to them and Ratchet could see that she was nervous before she asked, "Is there a chance that we can contact Cybertron and ask for some aid?" Ratchet was about to answer her when the sound of engines stopped him and he turned to see two of the other groups arrive.

One was made of Bulkhead, Jazz, and a new bot who had joined the Elite Guard named Blackbit. The black truck mech was a trained fighter who had millions of stellar cycles of experience. It was even said that he was the partner of the war hero Hinge. But, that was just rumor and Ratchet wasn't one to go chasing down rumors.

The second group that arrived back at base was made up of Tracks, Mirage, and a black car mech with red and yellow named Flareshock. Flareshock had come to Earth on his way back to Cybertron when his ship was blown up by the 'Cons when he was planning to leave. Since he couldn't leave in his own ship, Flareshock had agreed to stay on Earth and help them out...though he had a very big problem with Sentinel Prime. And that was an understatement.

"It's pretty unlikely," Blackbit started to answer. Guess they had heard Arcee's question. "With the large swell in Decepticon activity across the galaxy, our units are pretty spread out and most can't be spared from their objectives. No, this will be ours to handle until we get a significant number here."

Optimus stepped forward then and asked, "How many were at your crash sites?"

Jazz motioned to his group before he said, "It looked like we just had one at ours, though a pretty big one though giving how large the crater was. At least the size of Megatron if not bigger bots."

That dampened the mood greatly. Ratchet's own group's crater was an average vehicular mode size for Decepticons but, this one seemed to be much bigger, and most likely a large threat was well. But, the medic didn't stay with that thought for long as Mirage answered for his group. "From the size of ours, I would say that we had at most three bots in ours. Two of them seemed to be large framed and the other was average framed. Though the large frames wouldn't be very close to Megatron's height."

Well, that was a bundle of both good and bad news. The good, to Ratchet, being that there were no more bots the size of Megatron from their crater. But, the bad news in that was that there were three bots in that crater and two of them were larger frames. That meant that there was more muscle with the Decepticons now. "What about yours?" Bulkhead asked them.

Ratchet sighed and said, "Thankfully, it was just one and it looked like it was an average sized ground based mech given how the crater looked. But," And there was one thing at the sight that had disturbed him. He had done a energy reading to try and determine the crash occurred. What he found was, confusing. "when I took an energy reading of the area, my scanners picked up on something that they couldn't identify. I'll have to do more research and scans to see if I can figure out what that was."

The group of bots in front of him nodded and Ratchet just hoped that the other three groups only had one bot at them or this was going to force them to call in reinforcements. If too many more Decepticons had shown up, then they were looking at overwhelming odds. Reinforcements might be too late by the time they found out if their estimates were true.

More engine sounds caused the Autobots gathered to glance up and the last three groups came in at that point...for the most part. It seemed like Prowl's group was missing Bumblebee and Sari. Kids must have been distracted by something.

"We need to call in reinforcements!"Sentinel exclaimed with a panicked look on his faceplates. Of course, the Prime grew a panicked look whenever he saw one Decepticon, so that wasn't much of a surprise.

Optimus made a calming motion before he addressed the other three groups. "Alright, how many Decepticons were at each of your craters?"

Prowl was the fastest to answer, surprisingly, given that Blurr was on one of the other teams. "Our crater looked like it only housed one Decepticon, an small Decepticon ground mode bot by the looks of the impression."

This was looking better. A small car mech probably meant somebot the size of Swindle and that wouldn't be too difficult to deal with. "Our group had three impressions in the ground and one was a large frame like Ultra Magnus while the others were average sized ones." Blurr stated in his fast way and Ratchet was barely able to keep up with the mech's vocal speed. There had to be a way to install a half speed modulator in that mech.

But, three more bots, one being at least the size of Ultra Magnus was cause for immense worry. That meant that their numbers were being significantly outmatched. So far, the total of new arrivals was nine and Ratchet hoped that there wouldn't be a significant, "That's nothing! There were eight indents in ours!" Sentinel exclaimed in a panicked voice.

Eight more! That was doubling the size of their current count. If that was true, they were in deep trouble. "How large were they?" Chem, a ruby car mech who was a veteran and experienced fighter, asked. Ratchet figured he knew that these odds were looking worse and worse and, like he was thinking, they were only going to get worse.

Sentinel looked between them before saying, "Two were insignificant, human sized. One looked like it was a regular sized ground based bot, two looked to be regular sized fliers, and,"

"Three were being at least the size of Megatron if not being bigger!" Jetfire and Jetstorm exclaimed.

Now Ratchet felt his spark freeze. Five bots the size of Megatron, if not bigger, was cause for great worry. They were now not only outnumbered, but overpowered as well. If the didn't get significant reinforcements, then they were going to be going to the Well sooner than any of them were anticipating.

Blurr then raced to the console and typed in a few things before the intelligence mech said, "Agent Blurr reporting to Cybertron! Come in we have an emergency!"

The screen stayed black for a few clicks until the screen came to life and they were looking at a brown and orange ground based mech. "Blurr, what is the problem?" The mech asked.

"Seventeen more Decepticons have just landed on Earth and we need more reinforcements Remcy fast fast fast!" Blurr exclaimed in a panicked quick way. Ratchet didn't understand a word that he had just said and was about to repeat the message.

But, it seemed like Remcy had followed it quite well. "Seventeen? I'll contact Ultra Magnus and ask him to send some kind of reinforcements to you all. You are definitely going to need them."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Blurr thanked quickly before turning off the screen.

Well, at least that this Remcy thought that they were going to need reinforcements. Now, if only Ultra Magnus and the council would agree to that and send the support. Of course, they had it going for them that they were on the same planet as Megatron and his top lieutenants. But, Ratchet knew from experience that didn't mean that they were going to be getting the reinforcements that they were asking for.

Speaking about getting bots, Ratchet glanced around and saw that Bumblebee and Sari weren't back yet. "Prowl, were are Sari and Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked.

Everybot looked at Prowl as he answered. "On our way back, we ran into Angry Archer trying to rob a jewelery store. So, we went in pursuit and, once we caught him, I took him to the police. Bumblebee and Sari said that they were going to be spending some time in town on patrol right after so I left."

This didn't sound right. Ratchet had a feeling that Bumblebee and Sari were planning something and he didn't like the thought of that. Those two had a knack for getting into trouble and, with their luck, they were going to run into the Decepticons that were on this planet. But, he would contact the kids later for a check up. Now, they just had to wait for...

Tires squealing outside caused Ratchet to stop in his thought. What was going on? Well, his inner question was answered when Bumblebee and Sari came racing into the base before Bumblebee stopped and let Sari out before transforming, his intakes cycling heavily. "What have I told you about racing into base?" Ratchet started to lecture the two.

But, Bumblebee's focus seemed to be elsewhere. "Boss bot, I know you said that I wasn't supposed to race anymore, but now I got to ask if I can race. It's important!"

Racing? What was so important about going out and racing? And when did Bumblebee ever _ask_ to go race? "Bumblebee, what do you need to race for?" Optimus asked him with a weary look on his faceplate. The young Prime was familiar with Bumblebee's 'needs' for racing and they never were actually needed, and they never ended well for that matter. The medic should know since he was the one that spent all of that time fixing the dents that the young bot would acquire from them.

"Well, when we were chasing Angry Archer, I shot at him to make sure that he was down when Archer shot a shield arrow at my shot and deflected my shot at some car. Well, after Prowl left with Archer, the owner came out and she was fragged off. I told her that insurance would cover it but she said that she wanted compensation for it now. So, we started to say that we could go over to Sumdac Tower and get what she would need from Mr. Sumdac. But, this crazy chick interrupted and said that she wanted _us_ to pay for it. This lady was crazy scary boss bot. I think that she would have scared Megatron if she was glaring at him like that. Anyways, she then said that, in compensation, she wanted to race us where Master Disaster used to host his races tonight at seven. And the worse part? No boosters!" Bumblebee explained.

Ratchet was surprised by this. A human who didn't want monetary compensation...but a race? That sounded like something that they would do, not humans. What was this woman playing at? She could have gotten money but, instead, she wanted a race? And how did she know about Bumblebee's boosters? These questions were pounding inside the medic's helm so much that he almost missed Sentinel's response. "You had better let him go to that race Optimus!" Ratchet was surprised at that response...until the Prime continued. "I'm tired about hearing from these _organics_ about how much we owe in damages! This will be one less expense to us!"

That made a lot more sense. Sentinel was tired of hearing complaints. The medic knew that there was another part in this for the bot. But, he wondered what Optimus would response with. Bumblebee didn't have the best record with keeping out of trouble during these races. The mentioned Master Disaster event being a great example. But, if this would get Sentinel to shut up for a while, then he was half hoping that Optimus would agree.

A sigh coming from the red Prime told Ratchet that, most likely, Optimus had given in. "Alright, but be careful. I don't like how this is happening. Be on your guard."

Bumblebee gave off an exaggerated salute before saying, "As much as always boss bot!" He and Sari then ran out, most likely to Sumdac tower.

There was a tense silence that filled the base before Ratchet sighed and said, "I'll prep med bay for when he comes back in Primus knows how many pieces." He then walked to med bay, wondering what this race was going to come to.

**Knockout's 3rd P.O.V.**

Night was fallen and Knockout was waiting impatiently at the underpass. The yellow Autobot had five clicks to arrive by Penelope's deadline. Honestly, he was hoping that the Autobot wouldn't make it. That would give him an excuse to go to their base here and really cause some havoc, and so make some bots really uncomfortable. Oh yeah, he was already picturing it now. From what he had learned from Pandimala, these Autobots would take...teasing phrases very personally. Maybe some other stuff too. He smirked at all the fun that he was planning to do.

"Knockout, nothing too...inappropriate." Paul stated, said deity leaning against the back passenger side of his alt mode by the back tire. "We don't want to mentally scar them for life."

Penelope and Miko looked at both Paul and his soliform in confusion and Miko looked like she was about to ask something before Knockout responded to Primus. "You know, Pandimala was right. It is really annoying when you can see in our helms."

This time, Miko did start to say something. "What are you hiding in your helm, Knockout, that,"

"Do not answer that Knockout." Penelope interrupted, covering up Miko's mouth before talking to said girl. "Trust me on this Miko. I've talked to Pandimala and, if his mind is even half as perverted as I think it is, then we do not want to hear a word." It was then quiet before Penelope glared at Miko and said, "And if you dare bite or lick my hand, then we are going to see how fast a human tongue can melt with my acid."

The red medic smirked when Miko's eyes widened in quick fear before she nodded and Penelope moved her hand away from the girl's face. Of course, Penelope was right in making sure that Miko did not ask, because he would have explained in great detail what he was planning to do to these Autobots.

The sound of an engine caused Kalan to glance up and he smirked when he saw Bumblebee drive up. Guess the bug did want to race. Oh well. Knockout was ready to make this Autobot cry for marring his paint job. He found that dragging out a victory to a painful loss for the loser made the victory all the sweeter.

The yellow...cop car? Yeah, he was going to go with that. The yellow cop car stopped next to his alt mode and let the little techno-organic, Sari, out of his alt mode before he transformed and glanced at Penelope, who had moved to stand next to his passenger side door. "Okay, so how far are we racing?" Bumblebee asked her.

Penelope smirked a calculating smirk before saying, "We are going to start here and race to Sumdac Tower, round the tower, and the finish line will be here as well. If you use boosters, you will forfeit the race and your Autobots will pay for it."

Kalan smirked at that and started to think about how he was going to make the Autobots pay. Oh the ideas that were flowing through his twisted processor. Pandimala would be so proud of him. One of the many reasons that they were perfectly paired was because they knew how to have fun with others...especially gullible Autobots who were easily embarrassed.

Bumblebee frowned before saying, "Yeah yeah, enough with the big talk and let's just race."

As the Autobot transformed, he smirked and his soliform got into the passenger side of his alt mode, Miko and Paul got into the back seat, and Penelope took the driver's seat, and Knockout could feel anticipation building in his systems for this race. This was going to be one race that was going to be quite entertaining, if quick. He was going to have fun with this Autobot.

"On my mark." Kalan yelled out of the passenger window so Bumblebee would hear him. Might as well make them think that Penelope was in control and hot him. "Three, two," Their engines came to life and revved, ready to accelerate. "one, ignition!"

Rubber burned as both cars shot off of the starting line and made their way toward Sumdac Tower. If Knockout was calculating the race right, then it would only take him a few clicks to reach the tower and turn before he would be heading back to the finish line. Oh, what he had planned.

**Animated Optimus' 3rd P.O.V.**

Optimus sighed as he watched the race on the monitors. The two drivers had just past around Sumdac Tower and were heading back the way they came. What caused the sigh in the Prime was that he could see that this girl was teasing Bumblebee. She wasn't accelerating at all while he was almost going full speed. It honestly hurt to watch. The only reason he had allowed Bumblebee to enter the race was because this would save Professor Sumdac some money that went to the damages that they caused.

Now, however, he wasn't so sure he liked the trade.

Not only was Bumblebee losing, but the young Prime also realized that the girl didn't say what she wanted if she won the race. This wasn't good at all. She could demand to be brought here and that could put her in harms way. He would say no, but then he didn't know what she would do in retaliation.

"Optimus," Ratchet started, drawing the Prime's attention to him. "I've been scanning the race, just in case I picked up anything strange, and I have."

The worry that Optimus was feeling before came back twofold as he walked up to the monitor that Ratchet was at. "What is it?" He asked.

Motioning to the area of the race, Ratchet said, "I'm picking up an energy signature. It's faint for now but it seems to be growing stronger. I believe that it is one of the Decepticons that landed in those craters."

"How close are they to the race?" Optimus asked, not bothering to try and hide the worry in his vocals.

A sigh from Ratchet told him that, "I don't know. The signal is still too scattered for me to locate it." Yeah, that. Ratchet didn't know. If it was one of the Decepticons who were at least the size of Megatron, then they would have to get reinforcements out to Bumblebee quickly. Very quickly.

"Keep me updated," Optimus started but was promptly silenced by Ratchet holding up a servo and staring in shock at the screen.

"What is it Ratchet?" Arcee asked. She and the others had come over to join them at the monitor.

Ratchet pointed to the monitor in shock and said, "The Decepticon...it's right next to Bumblebee. It's racing Bumblebee!"

Optimus wasted no time in calling up Bumblebee's frequency on the base's line.

**Paul's 3rd P.O.V.**

The humanized deity sighed as Knockout and Bumblebee approached the final stretch...with Knockout at least three car-lengths ahead of Bumblebee. This wasn't a race...it was a massacre. Up until the turnaround at Sumdac Tower, Knockout had let Bumblebee have a nice lead on them, taunting the bug as Knockout put it. But, at the turn, Knockout had pulled the same speed up move that he had pulled back during the time of the Speed Metal episode in their dimension and quickly sped up to Bumblebee after that. If there was one positive to this, it was that Knockout hadn't rammed into Bumblebee and tried to knock him off of the road.

"Time to wrap this up." Penelope stated, a sadistic smirk on her face.

And that was what scared him. Penelope was very protective of whatever Pandimala was so it was like he had Lizzie back. Well, except Penelope had a very aggressive nature that Lizzie had never shown. It was like Penelope was what Lizzie could have become if she had not been turned into Pandimala. Paul was very glad, now that Lizzie had been turned.

But, back to the current situation.

"And that's game." Knockout smirked as he raced across the finish line, way ahead of Bumblebee. The red Decepticon then screeched to a halt and waited a few nano-clicks until Bumblebee crossed the finish line and let Sari out before he transformed, seemingly out of breath. Penelope was the only one to get out of Knockout at that.

"You..." Bumblebee started, still panting. "how are you...so fast?"

Penelope smirked and said, "My little secret. Now, my prize for winning,"

A sense of something bad about to happen had the deity pulling out a signal locator that Plena Teo had made for him, using Pandimala, and he turned it on before starting the scan. At first, he saw the signals of the Autobots in their base and, of course, Bumblebee's. But, then, the scanner started to pick up on another one. One _very_ close and _very _familiar.

"Knockout, your signal just popped up on radar." Paul stated with worry.

Knockout growled and started his engine. "Great, now we have to get Penelope. Stay in the car you two." Then, Kalan got out and started to walk up to Penelope. Hopefully, Kalan could get Penelope to the car faster than it would take Bumblebee to figure out that Knockout's signal was coming from their car. Using his abilities as Primus, Paul listened to what was going on outside.

"Penelope dear," Kalan stated when he got up to Penelope and put an arm around her. "I just got a text from one of our old out of town friends that said that he was here and wanted to meet."

Penelope frowned at that and said, "What are you talking about Kalan? I want my prize for winning!" And she turned and smirked evilly at Bumblebee.

Paul almost didn't need to use his ability to hear Kalan sigh before he said, "We need to go. Now. Also, some unwanted guests are going to be around and I don't want to be here when that happens. They can trace my cell signal now."

It was with that statement from Kalan that Penelope's eyes widened with understanding before she turned to the Autobot and said, "Keep you optics open for me, _Autobot_." Then, she ran toward Knockout with Kalan.

Bumblebee, however, seemed to be having a conversation with somebot over his comm link. He seemed to be confused at first and Paul had a very bad feeling that he was not the only one who picked up on Knockout's signal. That was confirmed when Bumblebee's optics widened as Penelope and Kalan got into Knockout and Knockout canceled Kalan.

"Freeze Decepticon!" Bumblebee yelled while taking out his stingers.

In response, Knockout did a one eighty and sped off in the opposite direction at full speed. The carbon residue from their universe must be finally wearing off. This wasn't good. Now, all of their allies would be able to be identified on radar. Plus, since the Cybertronians here could tell the difference between Autobot and Decepticon signals, Paul knew that this was going to be a crazy solar cycle.

Penelope seemed to put it quite accurately. "We are so scrapped."

**Blackbit's 3rd P.O.V.**

The black truck mech felt his optics widen as all the signals suddenly appeared on the radar. Whatever was hiding them before must have malfunctioned. But, he was now in a panic. In the area in and surrounding Detroit, there were seventeen energy signatures showing, plus one strange one leaving the location where Bumblebee had been. Something was going down, and it was going to be big.

"Optimus," Blackbit started, "we need to call in backup now."

The red and blue Prime sighed before saying, "We've been trying to contact Cybertron but the lines are busy. These Decepticon uprisings have everyone on their pedes."

Blackbit growled at this. He hated that they had the leader of the Decepticons on their planet, as well as seventeen signals that were not registering for now, and Cybertron was not responding. This was why he stayed away from the fragging planet. It only cared about its surrounding danger and not the bigger threat that was bubbling up here on Earth. Fragging politicians.

The signals starting to change color caused Blackbit to look at the screen closer. The one by Bumblebee was, of course, purple which identified it as a Decepticon signal. But, as the rest of the signals changed color, for the first time that solar cycle, Blackbit was not feeling so helpless in their situation.

"Optimus!" Blackbit yelled in a hopeful voice, getting everybot's attention. "Eight of those signals are Autobot energy signatures!"

"What?" They all yelled at him in shock.

In return, he nodded and brought the reading up on the screen. "There are nine Autobot signals, six Decepticon signals, two are another signal...not neutral though. But, the last one is even more unique than the other two.

...Wait...there were eighteen signals! But, they had only found seventeen indents!

"And it looks like there is one more member of the party that we didn't take into account." Jazz stated, voicing his last thought.

That cast a mood into the room. While it was a relief that they had some reinforcements in this group, the three new signals could mean trouble for them later on if they were allies of the Decepticons. But, there would only be one way to find out what they were.

"Autobots," Optimus started,

But, Sentinel interrupted. "You do not give the orders around here Optimus!"

Mirage growled at that before he smirked and said, "I thought he did after Ultra Magnus came back to Cybertron and had to clean up the mess you left it in."

Sentinel looked put in his place but Blackbit knew better. The big chin Prime would cause problems again before too long. So, before either Prime could say a word, Blackbit decided to guess at what Optimus was going to say. "let's go and find those Autobots."

* * *

**Authoress: Oh, I love this! It is getting better with every second that goes by!**

**Knockout: Yes, but now they know about me!**

**Paul: I think that Authoress wanted that to happen.**

**Authoress: *smirks* Got it in one Paul.**

* * *

**AN: And here is another exciting chapter to this story! I hope you all enjoyed. Looks like the other dimension bots have been exposed! Now, it will just be a matter of finding them. Should be easy right?...Right? Anyways, I loved the retort that Mirage gave Sentinel at the end! I wasn't even planning that. It just happened and I loved it! Next chapter is going back to Pandimala and Lucy!...*hears yelling from Plena Teo* Oh, and the old crotchety spirit! *dodges energy blast* Well, next chapter will be under works eventually. I hope ou all leave a review and tell me how I am doing! Until next time, TTYL! *closes to take Geology test***


	5. Everyone's an Alien

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**Pandimala: Gosh, it took you long enough.**

**Authoress: So, I got busy. Shoot me.  
**

**Megatron: *charges cannon***

**Authoress: *yelps and ducks* NOT LITERAL MEGA-TWIT! *pauses***

**Megatron: *angry look and cannon charges more* WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?**

**Authoress: *gulps* Uh-oh. *runs in opposite direction of charging angry warlord.**

* * *

Ch. 5: Everyone's an Alien

**Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.**

I smiled as I put the finishing touches on our gift to Gearstar. It had taken thirty clicks longer than I thought that it would, due to us not have worked in a forge for a while and this forge not having everything that Plena Teo usually used. But, we were finally done with it. Now, we just had to present it to him.

"Think he's going to like it?" I asked Plena Teo as we packaged our gift and walked out of the forge.

My resident spirit chuckled at that. _"_Pandimala, I think he would have liked a simple gift. He is going to love this_.__"_

Laughing, I continued to walk toward Gearstar's house. "True. But, let's get back to the house. I don't want to think of what sort of trouble Lucy could be causing."

He laughed in my helm and it wasn't long before I was joining in. When I had come out of recharge, Lucy had gotten up with me, though she was still very sluggish, and had went from sleeping in our room to sleeping on the couch in the living room where Gearstar was sitting on watch. While Plena Teo and I were walking out the door to head toward the forge, I had vaguely heard Lucy snap something at Gearstar. It would be my surprise if the two of them were still in one,

"OW THAT HURT!" I heard Lucy yell from inside the house.

Quickly, I ran inside and saw that Gearstar was holding Lucy's arm and, from where his servo was moving away from, I could see that there was a metal plate that blended in with her armor that was covering her insignia.

"Not as much as an Autobot's weapon if they found out you are a Decepticon." Gearstar retorted to Lucy's outburst.

While it was funny to watch the two of them interact, I knew that I had to make my presence known. We had a long solar cycle ahead of us and I had a feeling that it was going to be a very eventful one at that. "Lucy, you should be thanking Gearstar. He is risking a lot in letting us stay here."

They both jumped at my voice and I couldn't keep the smirk off of my face. I was really enjoying this. Of course, they didn't look like they were, but I could live with that. "Pandimala! When did you get back?" Lucy greeted me while making her way in front of me, Gearstar next to her.

Smiling, I said, "Oh, not too long ago. Long enough to hear you scream bloody murder and to panic me half to offlining...again."

Gearstar let out a laugh at that before he motioned to the package with his gift in it. "And that is what you spent all morning making me? A box? I think I would have preferred credits." He smirked at the end of that and that told me that he was kidding about the credit part. It was nice to joke around like this with somebot who hadn't known me my entire Cybertronian life.

"No, the box isn't your gift. You want what's inside." I laughed as I set the box down on the ground. The box probably came up to my knee joint and so that meant that it was a little taller on Gearstar. Hopefully, he liked it. I knew that Plena Teo and I had joked about him not liking it but I was actually somewhat worried. What if he didn't want it?

A hiss of pressure being released told me that Gearstar had opened the box and now, the gift was about to be known. It would not be long before my gift made itself known.

"It's so cute!" Lucy squealed as my gift walked out.

The Soundwave from my dimension had allowed me to copy the schematics that he had used to create Ravage...well, he gave me the schematics for all of them but I only used the one for Ravage and I put it to good use here. Instead of a cat design, though, I had made this symbiot with the design of a hippogriff. It was adorable. Plena Teo and I had put a lot of detail in its wings and legs and it looked stunning. It was mainly colored black and had turquoise markings on the edges of its wings and where the feathers ended by its neck, legs, and tail. It's optics were colored silver and it was looking around curiously, like it didn't know what was going on. That was understandable.

"Pandimala..." Gearstar started, his breath seemingly taken away. "is that what I think it is? A symbiot?"

I smiled and nodded before saying, "Yes. And it will be yours. You will need to imprint on the symbiot and that will reveal its name to you and it will allow you two to share a link that will reach over any distance. We figured that you could use a servo in keeping unwanted trespassers off of your land and your symbiot can patrol at night so you can finally get some recharge." I then looked at Lucy and motioned to our room before saying, "Lucy, come with me so they can get acquainted."

She nodded and the two of us walked down the hall. The bonding between the two would mean that Gearstar would need to expose his spark to the symbiot and then the symbiot's own spark would be ignited from it. According to Soundwave, it was a very personal experience and it was best to leave the two alone when it was happening. Soundwave said that, when he had accepted Ratbat as his symbiot, he had even had his other symbiots leave the room so he could link their sparks.

Lucy and I sat down on my berth for a few clicks and, at first, I thought that we would be waiting in silence. But, after a couple of clicks, Lucy spoke. "So, when are you going to make me one?"

I laughed and pulled her into a side hug before saying, "Maybe in a few dozen stellar cycles if you are good."

She grew a stubborn look but she didn't pull away. Guess she was hoping that it would be sooner. But, I was planning to maybe creating one for Knockout and myself if our attempts at having a sparkling continued to fail. We had been trying for so long to create a little one of our own but, so far, we had not been having any luck. When I was creating the symbiot for Gearstar, it was really hard to not become attached to it and make it my own. But, it was a gift for Gearstar. Not mine. I would talk with Knockout about the possibility of creating one of our own when I caught up to him.

Thoughts of Knockout caused my happy mood to drop slightly. I missed him. A lot. I wasn't going to be telling Lucy, or even letting my actions hint anything to her, but I was so nervous, and afraid, to be away from him for so long. I knew that he still showed a Decepticon signal and, here in this dimension, they would hunt him down once they caught a trace of it. Was he alright now? I hadn't felt anything from him since he had sent me a reassuring pulse a while back. Now, I was wondering if he was still safe. Our bond was still so new in Cybertronian standards and it was almost physically painful to be away from him.

"Pandimala, you need to calm down." Plena Teo started to say in my helm. "Your constant worry is going to send you into stasis lock."

"I'll try." I responded back to him. I was going to say more when I heard Gearstar's voice call us back into the room. Guess the process was done.

So, Lucy and I quickly made our way back to the main room and I smiled to see that the symbiot was standing next to Gearstar's right side and was glancing up at us. When it looked to Gearstar when we entered, I had a feeling that it was talking to the seeker.

"These are friends." Gearstar told his symbiot before he turned to us and said, "Pandimala, Lucy; allow me to introduce you to a new friend of mine. This is Topaz and he should now know that you are friends."

I smiled but, before I could greet Topaz, Lucy beat me to the punch. "Hi Topaz! I'm Lucy and you are adorable! Can I pet you?"

...Lucy was so an animal lover. I could see it now. I had a feeling that she acted this same way with Ravage, Ratbat, and Laserbeak. Topaz nodded in response to Lucy and soon, the two were sitting next to each other, Lucy petting the hippogriff and Topaz snuggling against Lucy. While the moment was cute, I needed to tell Gearstar a few things. "Gearstar, I am glad that you and Topaz have bonded. If you ever decide to make more, I have left schematics for a few types of symbiots in the box as well as Plena Teo's _very detailed_ description on how to work a forge."

"It's not that long._" _Plena Teo whined in my helm.

Of course, Gearstar looked in the box and pulled out the multi-novel length book on the previously mentioned subject. "Holy Primus did you get enough information in here?"

"_No, that's just the basics.__" _Plena Teo spoke through me.

Gearstar looked to me and I was guessing that he was looking to see if Plena Teo was kidding. Unfortunately, I knew that he was not so I slowly nodded my helm. "Really?" He asked out loud.

Smirking and shaking my helm, I said, "Yes. But, what can you expect from the mech who learned from the apprentice of Solus Prime herself?"

"True." Gearstar stated in a confirmation before he said, "Well, you two...three, had best get to the fields. Most bots don't go until mid-solar cycle so you will not attract as much attention when you go to activate your soliforms. My advice to you is to have them appear here," He then sent me coordinates to some back-alley. "This way, it won't be so obvious that you are soliforms and not organics. Also, when you get there, you will want to go to the big fountain at the center of town. That's were you will wait until group joining begins and you will be led to the area. Don't let it show that you don't know what is going on. Then they will know that you are not organic."

I smiled and said, "Thank you Gearstar, for risking so much for us and for helping us."

He smiled right back at me and said, "It should be me thanking you two. If it weren't for you, I never would have met such inspiring characters in my existence and I would not have Topaz here. Plus, it was fun to tease Plena Teo."

"Young whippersnapper." Plena Teo complained in my helm, causing me to internally laugh.

"Plena Teo says he is going to miss you too." I said with a smooth smile while internally silencing Plena Teo to make sure that he didn't ruin this goodbye. I liked Gearstar. Hopefully, we had one of him back in our dimension. I was so going to look for him in our dimension when we got back. If we got back.

A cold feeling filled my circuits as Lucy said, "Well, we had better get going. Bye Topaz! Bye Gearstar!"

Forcing a fake smile on my faceplates, I gave Gearstar a friendly hug before saying, "Thank you Gearstar, for everything. If you ever need me while I am here, I will come when you call."

In that moment I paused to think, sadness flowing through. How many friends did I have to temporarily meet, happy occasions slammed into the short time we had, only to say a goodbye that would last for an eternity in comparison? It wasn't right. Maybe, before we left, I could help stop the fighting here as well. They all deserved it. Even the idiot known as Sentinel. Even he deserved peace, to be free from the prejudices that held all of us down from discovering who we truly were, not the false mask that we wore when it was easy to conform with the crowd's thinking. What I wouldn't give...

"I will miss you Pandimala." Gearstar stated to me with a smirk before we stepped back and I waved before Lucy and I walked out of the door, away from the friend that I had just made.

The walk to the waiting field was silent, the nature around us even seeming to stay silent, as we walked across the meadow toward the resting field. I had a feeling that the other Cybertronians would take the paved road to the field. But, I liked the peaceful energy that the meadow seemed to exude and impart on each traveler that chose to enjoy the beauty of the meadow.

Once we finally arrived to the resting field, I frowned. The meadow was paved over and almost four thousand square feet of what was once grass was now a useless rest area. What was the point? I knew that the Autobots in this dimension feared organics...but to take it this far? They had to have walked on the grass to arrive here and the grass didn't kill them then. What did they think? That the grass was suddenly going to spew acid?

"Yes, I think that they actually do think that." Plena Teo stated as I glanced around.

I shook my helm at that before I turned to Lucy and said, "Well, we might as well get parked and get going."

She nodded and so the two of us transformed, her into her car mode and myself into my tank mode. Didn't want to freak the Autobots out with my aerial alt mode yet. That would come after I had secured transportation off of this planet and to Earth...to where Knockout was. I was hoping that he hadn't gotten himself into too much trouble. I had no idea what Autobots were on Earth and it would be a little difficult to find out now. But, that would just let the surprise be that much bigger. Who knew? Maybe Prowl was still online.

"Let's get going!" Lucy cheered before I heard her systems slow, meaning that she was already ahead of me in the process. So, I followed suit and slowed my systems while calling on the soliform program. Once I had my soliform set, I placed the coordinates that Gearstar gave us in and let the program take hold.

When I opened the eyes on my soliform, I saw that I was standing in some sort of alley. It was clean, but seemed to be abandoned. I guess Gearstar had experience in coming out here and so it would be easier for us to get mingled in with the organics on this planet. When I glanced to my right, I studied Lucy's appearance. She looked about sixteen, maybe seventeen, and she was about five seven in height. Her eyes were red and covered by visor like red sunglasses. Her hair was black and looked like it would reach the middle of her back if it wasn't up in a pony tail. Her skin was a very fair white. She was wearing dark blue tight jeans and a purple t-shirt with light purple swirl designs on the sides and front. Her socks were dark purple and her shoes were dark purple with light purple swirl designs.

"You look nice Pandimala." Lucy commented.

I sighed at that before saying, "Thank you Lucy, but my soliform's name is Lizzie, remember. You can still be Lucy though. But, you can have the last name of Val as well so it will be more organic like."

She smiled at that and I smiled right back. I was so glad that I was with Lucy, though I was wondering what Plena Teo would do since he was now alone in, "Who are you?" Lucy asked someone on my other side.

Instantly, I felt myself freeze before I turned and saw that there was a man standing next to me. He looked about thirty and was about six foot five. His hair was red with natural white highlights and cut just above his ears and his eyes were a bright, sharp, blue color. His skin was medium fair in tone and his teeth were perfectly white as a smile graced his face. He was wearing a red dress shirt, that had a black undershirt underneath and he was wearing medium blue jeans. For shoes, he was wearing black cowboy boots.

When the man didn't answer at first, I frowned and said, "Can you understand us? If so, then you are being extremely rude in not answering." Even if you are extremely attractive. While Knockout was the most gorgeous and handsome being in existence, this man ranked up in my top ten.

He smirked at that and said, "I'm glad you find me so attractive Pandimala."

My jaw dropped.

"Plena Teo?" Lucy exclaimed in shock.

I was with her on that one all the way. First of all, I had no idea that Plena Teo could even make a soliform. It was strange to see him in the physical world and not just in my helm. Secondly, I didn't not expect him to be so tall and so...young.

Laughter coming from Plena Teo caused me to glance at him as he said, "I thought I would give being out here a try."

At that statement, I came out of my shock and smirked before saying, "Well, I wasn't expecting you to be so tall, especially since you are so short in all actuality."

He frowned at that and walked with us toward the street as he said, "Well, I didn't want to be short."

"And what about how old you look? I'm pretty sure that you should be ninety or something." Lucy jibbed at him.

He bristled at that. "Well I wanted to be young again is there anything wrong with that?"

It was silent for a moment before the three of us burst into laughter as we walked out onto the main walkway. I was pretty sure that almost every single head turned to us as we did. Oh well. I liked causing gossip. It was so much fun to see what it turned into. My best guess was that Plena Teo was going to be some sort of young uncle and Lucy was his daughter and I was his niece, though who knew for certain what it would turn out to be. Maybe I would be Plena Teo's booty call.

Speaking of that Plena Teo. "Hey, what is your name in this form?" I asked him.

"Phillip Travers." Plena Teo muttered.

The most slag eating grin spread across my face when he said that. "Phillip? Oh Phillip my Phillip!" I exclaimed before laughing.

He frowned at that. "I don't see what's so funny."

Lucy laughed and joined in with me. "Phillip, Phillip! Where forth art thou?"

Then, I grabbed Phillip's hands and, as we walked forward, I spun him around while singing. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream." I then stopped and the three of us walked forward, Lucy and I laughing our heads off while Plena Teo face-palmed himself.

"You two are insane." Phillip muttered as we entered an open square and found ourselves approaching the fountain.

The two of us continued to laugh as we went to cross the street to the fountain. But, before we crossed, I froze as a very familiar smell wafted through my nose. Oh. That was tempting. Nothing should smell that good. "What is that wonderful smell?" Phillip asked.

"It's making me hungry." Lucy complained, a yearning in her voice.

….We were two cycles early for this thing. We could get some lunch. Glancing around, I continued to smell the air until my eyes found the location that my nose had long since located. It was just a few buildings down where we were. "Found it!" I exclaimed before I zoomed down the sidewalk. From the sound of footsteps on each side of me, I knew that Phillip and Lucy were right with me. We were hungry and that smell was drawing us in.

Once we were in front of the shop, I smiled. While the language on the sign was not English or Cybertronian, I knew what this place specialized in by the picture on the side. So, to emphasize how excited I was, I channeled a well known cartoon character. "Mmm … bacon."

The three of us then ran inside and I paused as everyone in the place just stared at us. Most of them looked suspicious of us. From what I could tell most of them were organic, with the evidence of bacon and other pork-like products hanging from their mouths and scattered across their plates. From how they were looking at us, I had a feeling that they assumed that we were soliforms. Well, we were, but we were awesome ones who could enjoy that heavenly food that was bacon.

Walking up to the counter with Phillip and Lucy flanking me, I smiled at the alien behind the counter. This alien was had a blue scaled skin and had four feet which looked like lion paws and it had a giraffe lower body and legs. The upper body was like a human male and he had four arms that were like a humans except each had had a retractable claw coming from the top of the hand. The alien's face was like an elf's in shape and was a lighter hue of blue than his body. His eyes were colored neon orange. He seemed to be giving me a hard look, like he was waiting to judge me, using intimidation to try and make me submissive if I was a soliform.

But, I was not one to be intimidated so I simply smiled at him and pointed toward a menu item before placing the necessary credits for three plates next to it. "Three of your Krastineo Topinagla. Extra chewy and extra krastineo."

The alien raised an eyebrow at me before he called the order. While the judging look was still there, it was more of disbelief than intimidation this time. Guess he was less likely inclined to believe the notion that I was a soliform. Of course, I was one but they didn't need to know that now.

"That smells really good." Lucy stated in a yearning groan. Yeah, she was hungry. I had figured as much and now they were getting one of the best food items ever to be invented; bacon. It heavenly flavor made the start of every day perfect.

Smiling as the waiter put the plates in front of us, for we were sitting at the bar, I said, "Well, then what are we waiting for?" I then started to eat.

Well, I guess the more proper phrase would be that I started to vacuum up the bacon into my mouth. This one had a strangely sweet aftertaste and it made me want more. Oh, it was so good! I could barely get it into my mouth fast enough. An image in my mind compared me to Homer Simpson and, honestly, it probably looked accurate. Etiquette was in a whole other dimension as I ate the euphoric meal.

It took me about four minutes to eat the mound of bacon that was at least a foot tall. Yum, that hit the spot _just _right. Now, I knew that I was ready for the day.

The alien behind the bar stared at us, for Phillip and Lucy had finished their food as well, before he smiled for the first time and said, "There is no way that you are those soliform yartaks! Welcome to Krastineo Supreme! I'm Farnak Threshiln, owner of this fine establishment."

When a pang of guilt traveled through me, I knew that I had to tell Farnak that we were actually soliforms. It didn't seem right to keep the information from him. "Before we introduce ourselves Farnak, we have a confession." I then motioned to the three of us before saying, "We are soliforms. But, we have a very high respect for organics and our soliforms here can eat food, which I absolutely _love._"

Farnak stared at us in shock, a look of uncertainty passing across his face. I could practically read his thoughts. The first was probably that he had insulted beings who, had in the past, probably called him a lesser being. Secondly, he was probably wondering how to proceed with us. I could tell that he probably didn't like soliforms but we had shown that we were different.

"If it helps, Lizzie Val here used to be human, an organic life form.." Phillip stated with a smile.

It had a fast reaction from Farnak. "You were organic? What happened?" I could see the respect coming into his eyes and, maybe, a small amount of hope.

Holding back the glare I wanted to give Phillip, I said, "My planet was used as a battleground between the Autobots and Decepticons and there was an accident. I was hit with an energon blast and was starting to die. An Autobot medic, thankfully, saved me from dying but I was in a coma for two months. When I woke up, I learned that there was an reaction and I was changed into a Cybertronian. I am neither Autobot nor Decepticon though and I have been working on creating peace between everyone that I meet. Lucy here, whose soliform is called Lucy Val, is a prime example. She was a lowly Decepticon trooper and now she is a close ally and friend. Plena Teo, whose soliform is called Phillip Travers, is an old time Autobot and Lucy and he are great friends. Plus, we have organic allies as well and we all work together."

It was then that I noticed the silence that was in the bar and grille and I turned to see that everyone was staring at the three of us in shock. Aliens that looked familiar from shows back in my home dimension. There was an Orishan in the corner and sitting across from them was a Citrakayah. In a booth by the windows, I also saw an Atrocian, a cloaked Vladat, an Atasian, and an Osmosian. Also, at the far side of the bar, there was an Eurythman. I was surprised to see one here. Wonder if he was here for the competition?

"You all work together? Incredible!" the Atasian exclaimed. "I thought I would never hear about anything like that, much less from a Cybertronian."

A smirk tugged at my face before I said, "Well, I'm not your normal Cybertronian." Then, I motioned outside toward the door before saying, "But, what I want to know, is what you all think about the music competition."

Silence filled the bar. Great. Just what I wanted. Silence. It was my best friend...not.

"Did we ask something wrong?" Lucy asked.

Silence continued for the longest time before the Eurythman moved to the bar stool next to me before he said, "In theory it is a great idea and it works in most of the other cities." I was surprised by how smooth that his voice sounded, even from what I remember from the G1 cartoon episode that Eurythmans were in. It was kinda hypnotic. Maybe that was why he hadn't spoken much at all.

"But?" Phillip asked, to prod more answer out of him.

"But the case is much different here." The Eurythman stated.

Okay, he was delaying. I could see it in his gold eyes. "So what are we looking at? Corrupt judges?"

The Vladat shook his head and it was at that point that I realized that everyone in the grille had come over to the bar. I guess we were big news. Felt kinda nice, actually. But, I shook my thoughts from my head before listening as the Vladat continued. "No. Nothing like that. It is not that. For the past six months, we have had only one winner. She is as rotten as they get and she held that spot firmly for four months."

"Two months ago, a group came out and looked like they would beat her. They are called the Infinity 4." The Eurythman stated, taking back over. "But, the champion did something to them during the final and destroyed the other team's spirit. Unfortunately, I must say that she is a fellow Eurythman."

No wonder the Eurythman was so hesitant in talking about the competition. It was a person of his race that was causing the trouble. "What can you tell me about her?" I questioned.

Shaking his head, he said, "A lot. Back on Eurythma, she was a bully. But, she was not that smooth in her speak or song. Actually, she was the worst. As I am pretty sure, you are most likely fighting to stop being in a trance from my voice."

He was right. It was hard to focus with his voice in the air. "Yeah, it is hard to focus."

"I have been told that I am in the top percentage of Eurythmans." He stated. "Just speaking regularly, like this, causes most beings to be swayed into an almost hypnotic state. The best of us can do that with one word. With her, however, she has to focus extremely hard on trying to do that and only the weakest of minds can be controlled."

"So you had better watch yourself Phillip." Lucy stated with a smirk.

Everyone in the bar chuckled when Phillip gave Lucy a very unamused look. It was fun to ease the tension off of difficult topics like this. The Eurythman even chuckled slightly before continuing. "Anyways, she always tried to challenge others or force them to teach her to be better. But, we all knew better than to do that. She was evil inside and we did not want to give her that kind of weapon. However, that caused her to start a search outside of our planet for someplace where she would be the star. Eventually, she came across Vuelen 4 and she started her rise. Since she is Eurythman, she had a disposition to singing and, in no time at all, she reached the top because, not only is she the champion in this city, but she is almost the champion of the planet. Once that happens, only teams that have won before will be able to challenge her, and she will know how to sabotage them if they get that far."

This was deep and exactly the kind of situation that I liked to help avoid, or stop. Brats like this rogue Eurythman were the kind of people that I despised and I loved to bring them down, in the most unlikely way possible. "So, she is going to be competing today?" I asked.

The Citrakayah nodded and said, "Yes. If she wins today, then she will have enough wins this quarter to challenge the current planet champion. And, since she is Eurythman, I doubt that even the planet champion will win. Epic Siren needs stopped now."

Wait...what? "'Epic Siren'? Please tell me that is not what she is calling herself." I asked with a disbelieving look. The name Siren was fine, but I was hoping that I heard something wrong and that the word Epic was not a part of her,

"Oh yeah. You heard him right." The Osmosian stated with a smirk. "She couldn't just be Siren, but she had to be epic."

I smirked at that and said, "The only thing epic about her today is going to be how epically painful her fall from her throne will be."

"You aren't going to hit her, are you?" Plena Teo asked me through my head.

Smirking internally, I said, "Maybe a little bit. Not sure about it though. It could change."

The Atrocian laughed and said, "I normally don't go but I would so go today if I knew that she was going to be dethroned. She is worse than those soliform yartaks."

I laughed with him and said, "Then you had better come today because I plan on dethroning this Epic Siren from her rocky perch, with the help of Lucy and Phillip of course. I wouldn't want to miss it if I were you all."

The Orishan then nodded and said, "I think we will. But, before we do, I think that you are without most of our names, except for Farnak's of course." I motioned for him to continue and he nodded before saying, "I am called O'ster."

"Glad to meet you." I stated with a smile.

The Eurythman then smiled before saying, "I am called Melopeii."

Then, the Citrakayah nodded. "I am known as Lanestream."

Lucy smiled and waved. "Nice to meet you Laney." She didn't notice Lanestream frown at her nickname for him.

"I'm Hay-Worst." The Atrocian introduced himself.

Phillip nodded and said, "It is nice to meet you Hay-Worst."

The Vladat smirked before saying, "It has been my pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am called Draclon."

"The pleasure is mine." I responded with a tilt of my head in respect."

The Atasian then bowed his head to me before saying, "I am known as Reiliff."

Then, the Osmosian smiled and tilted his head before saying, "And I am known as Storm Hawk. We are certainly glad that we have had the chance to meet you."

I was about to respond to that when Draclon held up a hand and said, "Wait, we know your friends' names, both soliform and otherwise, but we only know your soliform's name Lizzie. What is your actual name?"

Blinking in surprise because he was right, I hesitated only a moment before smiling. "I am so glad that you reminded me of that Draclon. Friends, allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Pandimala. But please, while I am here, please refer to me as Lizzie Val and the other two as Phillip Travers and Lucy Val. While you guys have been awesome in accepting who we are, I don't think that other organics will take our true identity very well and, while Lucy's name won't matter to them, names like Plena Teo and Pandimala would cause suspicions to circulate."

Farnak nodded before saying, "Of course we can keep your actual names to ourselves. Don't want to be getting our VIP Cybertronian friends in trouble now." He smirked at the end of that.

We all burst out in laughter at that before Reiliff said, "Not that I want to break up our fun, but it is quarter till midday and midday is when the applicants are led from the fountain and to the auditioning house."

It was sad to leave but I knew that, if I wanted to beat this 'Epic Siren', then I had to get on a team. "Well then, this is where we say our goodbyes until after the competition. See you then."

The three of us then got up and started to walk out of the door, but, before we left, Farnak said, "If you win...no, when you win, then I'll treat your team to a free drink on the house."

Laughing, I said, "I'll hold you to that Farnak." Then, the three of us walked out of the door.

It was only a minute walk to the fountain and, when we got there, I saw that only a few people were gathered to join. Maybe it was because they all thought that, no matter what group they chose, they wouldn't win? Because I highly doubted that this 'Epic Siren' ever took people in to form a group. From how the others were describing her, she seemed like a one woman show...one that I was going to personally burn to the ground and laugh at as it went up in flames.

"You do remember that I am still in your head? Those mental images are going to give **me** nightmares for a while. And I don't sleep much." Plena Teo commented through the link, probably to make sure that we didn't freak out Lucy with my thoughts. It was hard to think that she was a created just before Bumblebee skewered Megatron. She was so young and yet, for somebot her age, she acted really mature. More mature than a certain set of Autobot Lamborghini twins.

"Yes I know but it is better to think them here than to voice them out loud. That would attract attention to us for sure." I responded to him before saying out loud. "Hey, want to sing something while we wait? You know, for warm up?"

Phillip's face fell but Lucy's brightened considerably. This was her first official concert with me and I could see that she was excited. Even better, she was participating in one of my lesson giving events, in which the lesson would be not to let pride in oneself overcome your humility.

"Really?" Phillip asked.

"Yes." Lucy and I responded in sync with a nod.

He stared at the two of us in shock before he nodded and sighed in defeat. "Fine. What are we singing?"

I figured I could go a little easy on him since he was cooperating and so I thought about it for a moment before saying, "Well, how about something easy? Lets say Last Friday Night by Katy Perry?"

At the pointed look Phillip gave me, I had a feeling that was a no. It may have had something to do with me getting really depressed when Knockout had to go to Earth while I had to stay on Cybertron soon after the two of us had bonded. I had been so miserable that I had ended up having a Katy Perry song marathon to help keep myself from getting too depressed. Plena Teo had suffered through all four weeks of my depressive marathon of Katy Perry and he probably knew all the songs that I listened to by spark. "No."

Lucy had a confused look come to her eyes as she asked, "Why,"

But, I interrupted her. "I was just seeing if you were over that yet. Guess you're not." I then sent Lucy a pointed look that told her that I would tell her later. She looked reluctant when she nodded but I guessed that was the best that I was going to get under these circumstances. I would probably tell her once I was back with Knockout and we were all back together.

Our group was large and, as far as I knew, we were the only group. The others had a chance of being all separated. If that had happened, then, once the three of us got to Earth, then we were going to have to spend a lot of time trying to find everyone. Predaking and Arctic Talon wouldn't be too hard to find and I could find Knockout almost immediately, but the others might pose some problems. That might be especially so because I had no idea if even our private messages would work on this Earth. I knew that they didn't work when trying to contact someone on another planet. They usually got lost and ended up on the closest open comm line. I found that out the hard way. Ratchet never looked at Knockout and I the same for a while.

Or, for that matter, handcuffs and buffers.

"Okay, then what about_," _I started,

But, before I finished, the square got quiet and I turned as a line of entertainers walked by the side of the street. This must be the groups that were going to be competing today. There at the front of the line was, to no surprise to me, the person who I assumed was Epic Siren. If the others hadn't told me about her, then I would have been able to now see that she was a total snob. Just the way she carried herself spoke volumes, not even including the smelled-a-rotten-fish look that seemed to be permanently stuck on her face. It was funny to look at but it didn't serve my purpose.

The other already-registered groups walked forward and some of them looked like a bunch of people slammed together but others looked like they would pose a serious challenge. However, the group at the back of the line really caught my attention. Since there were four of them, and they were at the back, I was almost positive that this was the Infinity 4.

First in line for the group was a woman who looked to be of a plant based humanoid species. Her hair was actually seedlings and her skin was green and had a leaf look to it. Also, I had a feeling that she could feed off of solar energy due to the two antenna-like attachments to her head that stretched above her head and emitted light between the two tips.

After her, a man walked forward who looked to be an aquatic based humanoid species. He had opaque blue sking and his fingers were webbed. Also, it seemed like he had to keep his body temperature controlled due to a devise on the side of his head. His nose, also, had four holes in it; two on the side and two at the bottom. His hair looked like extremely thin seaweed but, with the quantity of the thin seaweed, his actual seaweed looked thick.

To my surprise, the being who followed next was actually familiar. Though his color was a little sharper than I remembered, I was pretty sure that the small Cybertronian behind the water man was Wheelie. It was a very big surprise to see him not in a soliform but in his actual bot form. And, from the reactions of the organics around him, he seemed to have their respect, like myself, Lucy, and Plena Teo. But, the soliforms were looking at him with looks of disgust.

The final member of the group was a hum...no, I would say he was a half dragon and half elf mix. Yeah, that was more accurate. Anyway, from his calves to his shoulders, he was elf like; fit, lithe-looking, elegant. Of course, it was hard to miss the rust colored wings on his back and the rust colored dragon feet that started from his ankles and down. By the bulges in his neck, I could see that he had two esophagi. Wonder if he could breathe fire? Anyways, his eyes were the slit, reptilian kind that dragons usually sported and they were colored silver. His face was elf like for the most part, except for the bit of scale that was on the ridge of his nose.

"I like them." I said to Lucy and Phillip once they had walked into a building at the end of the sidewalk.

They nodded and then Lucy said, "So, we going to try and join them?"

Nodding, I said, "You bet Lucy." All of us applicants then followed an alien that seemed to be a centaur in shape, but it was made out of stone. And from the looks of it, from granite.

We then walked on in silence and followed the granite centaur until we arrived at the building that the already registered groups had entered. Once inside, I saw that we were in what must have been the original arena, which was now replaced by the more modern and high tech one next door. It reminded me of an old opera house and I was loving it.

"Want to sing Phantom of the Opera for fun?" Lucy asked me in a whisper.

I smirked at that and said, "Nah, don't want to scare them off before we have had a chance to even get on a team." The two of us then chuckled at that and I could see Phillip shaking his head out of the corner of my eye. "Oh, you love us." I stated to him through my thoughts.

"So you believe Pandimala." Plena Teo answered.

Finally, we stopped in a room that had eight doors front and center. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they would lead to each group that was participating today. "Listen up hopefuls." The centaur started. "Each of these doors has one of the groups already registered behind them. Above the doors, you see a box. If there is a orange check above it, than the group is looking for at least one more member from you lot. If there is a gray 'x' mark above the door, then that group does not want any more in their group. The names of the groups are located just underneath these marks. Choose which group with a check you want to apply for and then the doors will open to allow you entrance. Good luck and may I see you preform at the main event." The centaur then left.

As the others in the room ran toward the lines that they wanted, I took a click to examine said doors. The first was, of course, Epic Siren and she had the gray 'x' above her name. After that was a group called the Echo quartet and they too had the gray 'x'. Thirdly was a group called the Tempest Tempos and they had the orange check mark. The fourth group had the name Beat Gods and above their name was an orange check, surprisingly to myself. Then, the next group after that was called the Forte Trifecta and they had the gray 'x' and after them the group called the Sonars had the orange check. Next to last, the group was called the Space Jammers and both them and the last group, the Infinity 4, had the orange 'x' above their names.

Every line with the orange check, except for the Infinity 4, had beings in them waiting for the doors to open.

"Well, we had better get in line so we can audition." I said with a smile.

Lucy and Plena Teo nodded and so the three of us walked toward the end of the room and, when we got in front of the final row, we walked down it and stood beneath the door that had the Infinity 4 written on it.

Needless to say that every other being in the room was staring at us as the doors opened. So, to have some fun, I nudged Lucy and she nodded slightly before the both of us gave them all a wide smile and waved like an idiot before dragging Plena Teo inside.

Now, it was time to begin.

* * *

**Pandimala: I know you I walked with you once, upon a dream!**

**Plena Teo: Shut up Pandimala.**

**Authoress: Why Phillip?**

**Pandimala and Authoress: *laughing afts off on floor***

**Plena Teo: I can't win. *frowns and sulks***

* * *

**AN: Well, I hope you all liked this! Sorry for being so late but real life got in the way. Lots of aliens mentioned here and most are from the Ben Ten series..es? Anyways, I wanted to have some variety and some fun before the next few chapters kicked off. Next chapter will be on Earth again and Knockout is going to have some fun. *evil grin* OH yes, he will have lots of fun. Until next time, please leave a review because I lovies the reviews! So, now I must say farewell. TTYL! *singing about pirates and treachery***


	6. Captured on Purpose

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**Paul: Why do I get the feeling that this isn't going to end well?**

**Penelope: Probably because this is the Authoress we are talking about and she has this weird way of making things not end well.**

**Authoress: You two know me too well. *smirks***

* * *

Ch. 6: Captured on Purpose

**Arctic Talon's 3rd P.O.V.**

Arctic Talon sighed as the eight bots in her group convened by a nearby lake that they had located. When she had woken up in the city, she had seen that she was with Predaking, Optimus, Joe, Vox, Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy. So, no Pandimala and no Paul. Well, this was either good or bad, but they would find out later. For now, they had to keep hidden and find the others.

"The smell of the bots in the city told me that we would have been in for some trouble if we didn't leave that place." Predaking grumbled as he sat on a rock.

The twins chuckled at that before Rumble said, "We didn't need a super animal sense to figure that out. Just by the way everyone around our little crash site acted was enough to tell us that something weird was happening."

And that was very true. Almost as soon as everyone had awoken, Arctic Talon had taken the liberty of observing the crowd and was surprised to see a lack of shock in the masses. Surprise, that was seen, but, so was the look of familiarity, like this had happened before. It was strange because they had still continued to stay in disguise after the peace had started. There weren't many solutions that could explain this. One was that they were all in some weird dream. It was strange to think but, with this group of bots, anything was possible.

"_What we have here is a different dimension folks."_ Soundwave stated with clips.

Optimus nodded at that and said, "That makes sense. I remember Pandimala and Paul telling me of different dimensions that they knew of. Now, we have to figure out which one we are in."

Arctic Talon glanced at the Detroit skyline to see if there was any sort of landmark that might help tell them what dimension, "Oh, we know where we are."

The ice blue predacon femme glanced down at Rumble as he said that, a smug look on both his and Frenzy's faceplates. "Where?" She asked them. Arctic Talon could tell that they were excited about the dimension they all were currently now in.

Frenzy glanced quickly at his brother before looking up at them before saying, "It's obvious. Combine the plushy way we look with the humans familiarity with Cybertronians and we can deduce that we are in the Animated Universe that Pandimala told us about."

"The one that inspired her to like the Decepticons more than the Autobots." Vox stated from his spot next to Joe.

No wonder the twins were happy. The Autobots in this dimension were suckers for pranks and it would give them all a good laugh if one or two really good ones got played on them. But, she couldn't support it officially. No, she was their silent sponsor. And, she preferred it that way. That way, she could get out of the more devious plot and laugh at the peril of everybot else.

Yes, she was diabolical. So sue her.

"It does not help that our signals have popped online." Joe stated as he held a scanner.

Optimus, Arctic Talon, and Predaking gathered around Joe and, for a brief second, Arctic Talon felt sorry for the drone. He was now surrounded by the three tallest members of their small group, and of most of their whole group, and they were looking over his shoulder. But, that was only for a brief second. For, after that, she noticed that Joe was not in the least bit fazed by being surrounded by the three of them. Guess working in the med bay with Knockout and Pandimala taught him how to be around bots that were almost twice his height.

With a quick glance at the screen, Arctic Talon felt confusion when she saw that there were seventeen signals, eighteen including the signal Paul gave off every so often. This worried her. That meant that there were two signals missing, and that wasn't even including the fact that they had no idea where the other humans were. The last time they had seen Raf, he had gone into space with Megatron. That was enough cause for worry, even if Pandimala seemed to trust him slightly.

"We need to track down the signals around us and regroup." Optimus stated, snapping her out of her worries.

Predaking nodded at that and said, "The closest signal to us is three clicks to the north, away from the city."

They all then transformed and it was only then that Arctic Talon realized that Vox was the only one out of their group that didn't have some way into the air since Rumble and Frenzy could get a ride with Soundwave. "Hey Soundwave," Vox started, "mind if Rumble and Frenzy keep me company down here?"

"_Your funeral."_ Was the clip that Soundwave responded with before letting the twins out of his alt mode.

The two troublemakers wasted no time in hopping into Vox's alt mode and Arctic Talon wondered what sort of trouble those three would cause. Vox wouldn't go looking for it, but he wouldn't stop Rumble and Frenzy from leading him to it. If Pandimala hadn't already started trouble here, those three would definitely pick it up.

As she flew above the clouds, Arctic Talon wondered about the triple changer. There were two Cybertronian signals missing and she didn't have a guarantee that said that one of those wasn't Pandimala. Missing signals were never good things. Either she had been lucky and landed around some carbon deposits or...

Shaking her helm out of those negative thoughts, Arctic Talon flew forward and toward those signals. There had to be another reason. With Pandimala's luck that could be anything. Frag, the femme had found her and that had been some serious fate working there. Maybe there was some strange reason as to why she might not be on the scanners. Or, she could be on the scanners and it could be somebot else that was missing. Yeah, that was a good thought. It wasn't Pandimala. It couldn't be.

**Knockout's 3rd P.O.V.**

"This is getting annoying." Miko grumbled as they ripped around another turn.

And that was about the hundredth complaint that she had made in the past five cycles...which, now that the red medic thought about it, was pretty good. Normally, he would be impressed but it was different now. He was tired, irritable, low on energon, had three annoying humans in his alt mode, and, most importantly, his finish was covered in dust.

"Really, that's the most important thing?" Paul commented from his spot in the passenger seat.

Turning his soliform toward the humanized deity, Knockout frowned before saying, "After this is over, you and I are going to be discussing personal boundaries."

Instead of complying, Paul merely smirked before saying, "Whatever you say Knockout."

A growl came from Knockout before he said, "Do you give Pandimala this sort of problems?"

The smirk on Primus grew before he responded, "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet."

The car was then enveloped in silence. Knockout still felt annoyed and he wasn't even sure why he was running from these Autobots. Not only could he probably take them in a fight, he was not going to be able to have...

His soliform smirked as an idea came into his helm. "Knockout, what is with that look?" Penelope asked knowingly.

"We're stopping." He calmly stated before slamming on his brakes and parking right in the middle of the park.

The three humans hopped out of his alt mode as he transformed, stretching before lazily lounging against a tree, his left servo keeping him balanced against the tree while his right laid softly at his hip. Oh, he was going to have a blast with this. Paul, Penelope, and Miko stared at him like he was insane before Miko said, "Dude, those Autobots are going to get you now! We have to get out of here!"

"Please tell me you are not planning what I think you are planning?" Paul asked him with a plead in his voice. Guess the deity guessed at what he was planning.

Slowly smirking, Knockout nodded and said, "You know the answer to that Paul."

At that, all three humans groaned. They knew him too well. Sometimes, he found it odd that there were humans in his company...and not as prisoners. Before he met Pandimala as Lizzie, he probably wouldn't have cared about humans at all unless they messed up his finish. But, with everything that had happened after they had met, he knew that humans could be quite useful when they wanted to be. Plus, they weren't to bad to just hang out with too...unless they were a certain deity who dug around in his thoughts.

At the sound of approaching engines, Knockout allowed a smirk to appear on his faceplate.

"We are so going to regret this." Penelope muttered as the three humans stood next to his pede.

**Animated Bumblebee's 3rd P.O.V.**

"The signal stopped right ahead...finally." Sentinel grumbled as they continued forward toward the park.

As much as Bumblebee wanted to disagree with major big chin, he was also feeling relief at the fact the fragging Decepticon femme had finally stopped. All of the Autobots had ended up joining in chasing the Decepticon that had raced him. Seventeen Cybertronians and Sari had been chasing this one Decepticon for five cycles, or hours as Sari kept saying as she complained about being hungry and not eating for that long. But, they needed all resources to find this Deceptihag. She must have cheated in the race. That was how she beat him!

Optimus starting to speak broke his accusatory thoughts. "How close are we to the signal?"

"Give me one click," Chem stated before a few nano-clicks of silence followed. Bumblebee didn't have time for this. They should drive straight in and take out the Decepticon femme before she could get away. All this talk was getting, "It says that we are almost on top of her!"

Every one of them stopped when Chem said that and took out their mods before slowly looking around. The femme could have very well led them into a trap and they had to be ready for anything that she could...

…

Bumblebee couldn't believe his optics as he turned the corner and saw two females of the group with the Decepticon and one of the males...the one with brown hair. Then, standing next to them was the Decepticon. The red Decepticon had one servo resting against the tree next to them and had one servo resting against their right hip. The look on the Decepticon's faceplate, instead of looking trapped and outnumbered...like it should, it held amusement and something else.

But, those details were not what surprised Bumblebee the most.

"You're a mech!"

**Knockout's 3rd P.O.V.**

A smirk tugged at the red medic's lips when the bot he was almost positive was this dimension's Bumblebee exclaimed his shock at his perfection being a mech. He had a feeling that would happen. Penelope had been the one to confront Bumblebee and had claimed that he was her car, so the assumption was accurate...but he was going to play on that.

Putting on a slow smirk, Knockout stared directly at Bumblebee before saying, "Bet that makes you feel better about losing that race to me Bumbles." He then sent out a wink to the mech.

The mortified and shocked look that crossed Bumblebee's faceplate told Knockout that flustering these Autobots would be easier than he thought it was going to be. He already had the Bumblebee stuttering and staring in shock. Now, he would go through the rest of them.

"Surrender now Decepticon!" Jazz told him while taking out his nun-chucks.

Instead of taking the bait of a fight or standing down, Knockout's smirk simply grew. Now it was time to have some fun with the car cyber-ninja. "Only if we get to have some fun later little ninja. Nun-chucks can be so much fun when played with right." And then again, he winked. But, this time, he raised the hip that his servo was resting on slightly. Pandimala had told him that doing that caused most bots to fluster and he still remembered the solar cycle when she showed him that. He had never thought that Ironhide could look so confused...or as the Autobot weapon specialist liked to claim, 'shocked'.

"Keep your vocals quite you stupid Decepticon!"

A slight frown came on Knockout's faceplate as the terrible big chin terror that Pandimala talked about in such distaste said that to him...well, yell at him..but the difference was there. "Me? Stupid?" Knockout stated as he stopped leaning on the tree and placed a servo against his chest plate, a faked hurt look crossing his faceplate.

"Drama queen." He heard Paul cough softly.

Resisting the urge to roll his optics at the deity, Knockout pointed a single digit toward the Prime...though how the mech had earned the title he had no idea, before saying, "I'm not the one that thinks all organics are deadly and I'll catch some organic form of Cybonic Plague if I come near one, Chin-tinel Prime." He then shook his helm and said, "That's so stupid that I almost feel pity for your aft you poor stupid Autobot."

"That's the best you got?"

All of the Autobots looked down at Miko when she looked up at him and yelled that. It was like they were just noticing the humans. Great. Knockout knew that it was coming in three, two, one,

The hum of blasters charging filled the air as the Autobots thought that he was most likely holding the three humans hostage. "Release the humans Decepticon." An unknown black car Autobot with red and yellow flames said to him slowly, like _he_, Knockout, was a sparkling! It was almost insulting...except for the fact that the behavior he had picked up from Pandimala after she came back and the two of them bonded usually leaned toward the sparkling like behavior and the perverted behavior. While he wasn't actually perverted...that much.

"But they're so squishy!" Knockout stated with an 'innocent' smile as he moved his pede slightly toward Paul, who glared up at him at the movement.

Around him, he could see that the Autobots were becoming more nervous. "Why don't you pick on somebot your own size?" The black motorcycle that Pandimala told him was called Prowl challenged him.

While he was not really going to pick on Paul, because he knew what sort of consequences that sort of action could get him, the red medic simply raised up his servos in a surrender motion. "While I may have the advantage over you silly Autobots and I could easily take these silly humans before you all could even try and stop me, I believe that my surrender to you would be pertinent," As the Autobots took a step toward Knockout smirked. "Under one condition."

The way that the Autobots all stopped all together in one single step almost made Knockout lose his composure and fall over laughing. But, he managed to simply keep it to a smirk before the Optimus of this dimension said, "What condition?"

"Actually a few." Knockout corrected before saying, "First, you are not going to put those stasis lock cuffs on me. They'll chafe my finish. Regular cuffs only."

Sentinel stepped forward at that, "Now hold on a,"

"Secondly," The red medic continued with a smile, "these humans have grown on me, as much as I don't like their squishy bodies, and I hope that you will bring them with us to your base. Finally, I want to be able to talk with you all. It can be quite lonely alone in a prison cell and, ever since I became bonded, I have found that I enjoy talking to other bots."

Silence then filled the area and Knockout could almost see their gears straining with trying to handle the information he was giving him. They could capture a Decepticon with no injury if they gave in to his demands but, with those demands, they had to put him in second rate cuffs and they had to bring these three humans by the Decepticon into the base. Knockout knew that the latter part was why they were struggling so much.

Of course, he was slightly hoping that they wouldn't concede to his demands. Knockout hadn't been in a true fight in a while so this would be a nice change of pace.

But, they seemed to see some logic in his demands because the ruby mech that was new to him nodded and said, "That seems reasonable. But, if you even try to escape, we'll put you down before you even realize what happened."

Right. The red medic doubted they would be able to stop him but he decided to humor them. "I would expect nothing less."

"Enough of these pleasantries!" Sentinel Prime yelled before taking a step toward him.

Knockout did not want that mech near him because he was sure that his finish would be ruined if that Autobot got anywhere near him. "If he comes anywhere near me our deal will be null and void!" Knockout yelped out as the Prime tried to move closer.

Thankfully, the Prime's teammates decided that he wasn't kidding and grabbed him. "What are you doing?" That didn't mean that the idiotic big chin was going to back down quietly.

"He's surrendering without a fight." Prowl told him. "We must take advantage at his submissive behavior for now."

The red medic loved the angered look that crossed Sentinel's face after the black ninja bot had said that before the Prime glared at Knockout and stood down. Then, Prowl walked toward him and Knockout extended his arms, wrists touching so the Autobot could put the cuffs on him. The ninja looked nervous as he approached and, as much as Knockout wanted to shake him up a little, he also wanted the Autobot to hurry up. "I'm going to rust to offlining before you get over here. I already agreed to surrender."

Carefully, the Autobot stopped in front of him and took out the cuffs. Once they were on his wrists, the mech said, "Never trust a Decepticon."

"I could say the same thing about Autobots," Knockout started, "but I let you come this close to me and put me in regular cuffs all the same." He smirked at the thoughtful glance that crossed the Autobots face before he motioned the other Autobots toward him.

The others, thankfully, moved toward him quicker now that he was restrained. Some of them moved Miko, Penelope, and Paul away from him while the black truck mech and this dimension's Bulkhead restrained him. When the black truck mech gripped him a little too roughly, Knockout decided to tease the mech. "Now now Autobot, I don't like things too rough. Calm down slightly won't you?" He winked after he said his last word.

In response, the black mech loosened his grip and said mech glared at Knockout. Oh, he was going to have so much fun once he got to their base. They had no idea what they were in for.

**Chem's 3rd P.O.V.**

The veteran fighter felt a huge wave of relief wash over him once Prowl at the cuffs snapped onto the Decepticons wrists. This had been crazy from the beginning and he was glad that the Decepticon was now in their possession. One down and eight more Decepticons to apprehend, before they found their way to Megatron, and the rest of those signals to check up on. But, this was a good start. There hadn't been a fight so no bot had gotten hurt because the Decepticon had surrendered peacefully.

But, as Blackbit and Bulkhead grabbed hold of the Decepticon and said Decepticon made that comment, Chem felt uneasy. Maybe this had been a little too easy. Before he had surrendered, the red car mech had the advantage over them because he had three humans as hostage and they had all already figured out that the only bot in their party who could catch the Decepticon while driving was Blurr, but the intelligence mech did not have much in the way of fighting experience so the Decepticon could have lured him away from them and then taken him out. But, instead, the Decepticon had surrendered.

Looking up at the Decepticon, Chem felt even more worry as he saw the Decepticon give off what looked like a planning smirk. Now, Chem was thinking that, maybe, the Decepticon had wanted them to capture him.

"You alright Chem?" Cliffjumper asked him as the two of them watched the medic being taken away.

Shaking his helm, Chem said, "No Cliffjumper, I'm not. I fear that, in capturing this Decepticon, we have done exactly what he wanted us to do and that gives him the advantage." He then started to walk forward before he sighed and said, "I only hope that we are prepared for whatever it is that he is planning."

Chem then walked up to where they were keeping the humans that the Decepticon had captured. He was expecting to see them with grateful looks on their faces. But, when he stopped in front of them, Mirage and Jazz on either side of him, he felt that worry grow more. Instead of the grateful looks, the veteran saw annoyed glances being cast in the direction that the Decepticon was just taken and, from the human with pink coloration on her head, he saw excitement.

"If you humans could come with us, we would like to take you back to our base to protect you." Mirage stated, though Chem could tell that Mirage was not thrilled with this arrangement. Guess he had been 'asked' to help bring these humans to base and the other didn't want any of the humans driving together. That made a lot of sense. These humans seemed to be acting way to weirdly for this situation.

The only male in the group nodded and said, "Very well. I guess that would be for the best." He then walked up to Chem before saying, "I'll go with you then."

Chem nodded and transformed into his alt mode before opening his passenger side door. It felt weird, letting the human inside, but Chem figured he would have to get used to it since he was planning on staying on this planet for quite some time. Glancing at the other mechs, he saw that the human female with pink on her helm was getting into Jazz and the other female was getting into Mirage. Now, they just had to find out some information about these three.

So, once his door was shut and he started to drive for the base, Chem asked, "So, what's your name?"

The human at his dashboard before saying, "My name is Paul Riley Muskogee, but you can simply call me Paul. Who are you?"

Yes, this human was acting way too calmly. "I am called Chem and it is nice to meet you Paul."

"Who are the other two that took my friends?" Paul asked immediately.

At least this human didn't waste any time. "The white car mech is Jazz and the other one is Mirage. Jazz is pretty laid back and Mirage can be kinda stiff at first but he'll relax once he gets to know you." He then made a turn before saying, "And what about those two women who were with you?"

He was surprised when Paul smirked slightly before he said, "The one who went with Jazz is Miko. She can be really hyper and adventurous and gets into loads of trouble. But, she's as loyal as they come. Then, the one with Mirage is Penelope. She's like a calmed down version of Miko but she can be really devious at times. But, her loyalty rivals Miko's and, at times, beats it out."

As they arrived at the base, Chem felt worried. Paul seemed way too comfortable with this entire situation, more than most would. Maybe since they were staying at the base, he would be able to answer some of these questions that were pounding around in his helm. Hopefully, he figured one of them out before it was too late.

* * *

**Knockout: Oh, the things I have planned.**

**Paul: We are so going to die.**

**Miko: It won't be that bad...right?**

**Penelope: Oh, it'll be that bad. Knockout is going to embarrass us to death.**

**Authoress: Oh, but he is just so sexy that he gets to. *smiles dreamily***

* * *

**AN: And here is the next chapter! Sorry for the slow updates everyone. I've been fighting getting sick but, these past days, I haven't been doing well and I haven't had the energy to come one here. Now that I have though, I hope you all enjoyed this! Knockout's planning something! Next chapter will, for once, have both Pandimala's and Knockout's P.O.V.s as the chapter goes on. It is hopefully going to be pretty long and it is going to cover a few events that will lead to Pandimala 'obtaining' a ride to Earth. Please leave a review for me, even to say hi! It encourages me so much! =) Until next time, TTYL!**


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